Cindy Tran

Asian Boyz Crips in a Civic

They pushed me out of the car and said, shoot
her. “Hold up she’s like eight, she’s got nuthin.”
Get that necklace get that necklace go go!
I put my glock to her head and snapped off
the chain. A hair pin with a row of white flowers
clinked onto the asphalt. Pulled my gun away—
her bowl-cut bangs brushed across the barrel—
Kicker pulled me in and we drove away.
I looked down at my hand, and saw her god-
damn hello kitty necklace staring at me.

Cindy Tran is a poet and freelance editor. A recipient of fellowships from The Loft Literary Center, Brooklyn Poets, and Poets House, her work has appeared or is forthcoming in AAWW’s The Margins, Nice Cage Magazine, and Copper Nickel, which gave her an Editors’ Prize. Cindy will begin her MFA in Poetry at New York University this fall. Visit her at www.cindymtran.com.

See full list of 2018 Emerging Poets Fellows