i know, i know,
you’ve had enough of my small i
all these doubts and downplaying
insecurity as if begging for
validation, repeatedly
still, hear me out
this small i
isn’t about humility
this small i isn’t about
a virtue prided in the east side
where the sun dawns on family name
with first name putting at last
not that i mind,
but that isn’t
what i am about
this small i is about you,
he, she, and they, we are equal in lower case
this small i is about coexistence
with tôi, tao, mình, tớ, chị, em, con, cháu,
the list goes on for each role i cast
big I flattened on foreign tongue won’t get to be
the whole of me
ultimately,
this small i is about
a deflated ego, bridges burned to inflate
a space to grow, half empty
but happy knowing one thing
surely that i know nothing
so ease up,
let me be
inverted ! of my lucid i
this little slit under a hanging spot
like a spark ignites
on a tiny candle surrounded by shadow
of uncertainty