Nellie Wong wrote this poem, almost completely in Hoisan-wa, in anticipation of her 88th Birthday, creating the English translation on September 12, 2022 – her 88th Birthday. She shared the poem in July of 2023 with her Hoisan sisters, Flo Oy Wong and Genny Lim. The three poets performed together as The Last Hoisan Poets.
I wrote it in the spring of my 87th birthday, stretching my brain of our dialect that’s there.
Nellie read this poem aloud for the first time for seniors at the North East Medical Services PACE program in San Francisco Chinatown. Nellie recorded these readings in Chinese and English in preparation for that August 18th performance in 2023.
88 TONGUES: BOT SIP BOT GA LEE
Bot Sip Bot Thluey Lah
aw mixee up
Ai, tlengh gong oo nai Hoisan-wa
Tlengh nghoi hai leck nui
Thlengh nghoi maw bock how faht
Hai lah! Haw ooo bock how faht
wahn yew nit do hock how faht
Ai yah, jook sing nui
Ngow jaw lah, hah?
Nei heng Mee Gawk chut sai
Nei heng Hong Nghin Fow, Uk Loon , Calafawn Sahng
Bot sip bot nin lah
ghiew nghut sip nghee nghit
Yit ghiew thlom sio thlee nin
Haw joong yee gong ying moon
Spellum haw ooo do, ook haw ooo see, nem see, nem see
Aw Wah Kue Hawk How Ah Wong Thlin Sahng
Ah nei gah siew, nei kai nui ook Uk-lun Tri-bune
Goo jee nei hai Mee Gawk Nghin
Pock pock, pock pock!
Nei um ghee ock nei hai Hong Nghin nui
Joong Gawk Nghin
Hahm-book-gah? Jow see-doy. Mought hai Fren-chee fry?
Jin hai jook sing
Hollow like the bamboo
Empty, not real Chinese
Um thleng nghee nem ah Guwng Foo Thloo,
Ai yah, koi jai woon!
Haw pock, Haw pock!
Ah Bah hoong moi nah thloon nuey
Aw Ai Joong Wah Tahn Gawn
Aw wong sick gah Vic-to-li-an gahn ook
Aw Hallison Gai ghin jee ah Fong Git Bock
hoong moi Ah Fong Git Moo din nghoi ghee gah thlom min doy
Thlom min nui din how faht allaw thlim gah fahn wawn
But upside down
Ah Fong Git Moo aw Eureka choot sai
Kui gah how faht haw hock, haw leng
Marcelled waves. Hoisan-wa hai mought ah?
Kui gah Ying Moon allaw thlim bock ngin gong
Ahn hai Ca-la-fawn sahng twang twang twang
Allaw thlim gah wong deck cheong goo koi whot
Englishee yew min bau doy mah?
Hong Nghin cha siu bao
O the law poo beng, the hem thlawn gee gheck
See-dock-dun Gai
Nghee Fow Loo Sahng Soc-ka-men-.do
Aw Las Vegasee ooo bawk
Hai jin gah fow, jin gah wa
Haw hoong hoong look look
Nei koy see law nghin gah
Nei gah naw haw keng, ngow nui
Nei gah thlim wahn haw hoong
Ghee nem allaw gung nghin
Heng Joong Gawk
Heng Mee Gawk
Tun gah sai gai
Gee mai heck cheng goo hahng gai mai faw tong
Yew thlim yew naw
yeng ai nah kit doi
Gow nei ah jeng um hai gong ai wa um hai cheh ai pow
Jawk gee, catchum the pig
Gow nei nom doy nui doy
Hoong hoong look look
Nei heng ngoi gong mah?
Ai! Bot sip bot nin diew loy lah
Ai! Bot sip bot gah thluey
Allaw thlim yit mahn nin
Allaw thlim yit chin yin
Nei hell ngoi gong mah?
Ngim ngim cheng meng gahng. Koi foo, koi hem, koi wot.
Jin hai jook sing nui, jook sing nui
Thlell mought ah, thlee nui?
Thlell mought ah?
Nellie Wong
Gee Lai Oy
May 25, 2022
November 9, 2022
BOT SIP BOT GA LEE: 88 TONGUES
88 years old already
All mixed up
Ah, want to speak more
Hoisan-wa
Think I’m a smart girl
Think I have no white hair
That’s so! Lots of white hair
Still have a little black hair
Ah, hollow bamboo girl!
Gone crazy?
You were born in America
In Chinatown, Oakland, California
88 years go
Love to speak English
Spell many words, read many books, memorize, memorize
At Wah Que Chinese School
Teacher Wong
Hit your hand, you bad girl caught
Reading the Oakland Tribune
Thinking you’re an American
Pock pock pock pock!
Forgetting you’re Chinese
Chinese girl
Hamburger? Truly hollow bamboo
Empty, not real Chinese
Haw pock, haw pock!
Poppa with the grandchildren
At the Great China Chop Suey
At the yellow Victorian house on
Harrison Street near Barber Fong Git
With his wife
Cut cut snip snip the little kids’ hair
Like a rice bowl
But upside down
Mrs. Fong born in Eureka
Her hair so black, so beautiful, her
Marcelled waves. Her English spoken like a white person
But with a California sound
Twang twang
Like a yellow bird
Singing a song, smooth
English a pork bun
Chinese cha sell bao
O the old wives’ cookies
Sweet and sour pig’s feet
Stockton Street
Sacramento the second city
Gambling in Las Vegas
A real town
Very red, very green
Now you’re old
Your brain still strong
Nutty old girl
Your heart still open remembering workers
in China
In America
The whole wide world
Cooking rice, crossing streets, buying groceries
With heart with brain raising the kids
Teaching you not to lie through booming cannons
Catch a pig, boys and girls
Red red green green
Understand?
Ah, 88 years already
Ah, 88 tongues wagging
Just like 1000 years
1,000,000 years!
Understand what I’m saying?
Drink up, drink up
Drink a big bowl full of longevity soup
Long noodles, slurp slurp
Got ginger
Got four flavors
Got 88 tongues
Lucky, born in America
Chinese American tongues
American tongue, Hoisan tongue.
Nellie Wong
Gee Lai Oy
September 12, 2022
Ninth Month Twelfth Day
© 2022 Nellie Wong