Almost Spring
39 people found dead in the back of a refrigerated truck near
London were likely from Vietnam, said a priest from the rural,
rice-growing community where many of the victims are believed
to have come. -- Reuters
Anna Bui Thi Nhung, 19, posts on her Facebook page
and a friend responds, asks how the trip is going.
Not good, Nhung writes back. Almost spring, she adds,
a Vietnamese phrase meaning close to one's destination.
She had meant to find work in a nail salon.
The driver told inspectors he was hauling frozen biscuits.
In Nghe An Province, a mother is unable to rise from her bed.
A powerful poem by Julie Bruck in the new issue of The Fiddlehead