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Transcription: [00:07:02]
[[applause]]

[00:07:08]
{SPEAKER name="Dia Bui"}
Alright, it's a blessing to be here, thank you so much.
[00:07:12]
As I'm giving appreciation for being here, I'm going to lower this mics.
[00:07:16]
OK, that's all it goes-that's all-that's all-ba-all it does. Once again, my name is Dia Bui
[00:07:22]
uh, really proud to be here, queer and Vietnamese. So, the f- Yes, queer and Vietnamese.
[00:07:28]
So, I want to thank Regie for bringing us out here, Capturing Fire. Such a blessing to share the stage with the folks that you'll be hearing from.
[00:07:35]
So, the first poem I want to share with you is about love.
[00:07:40]
Can we all agree that we are constantly on the move and at the center of that is love? So, here is poem about love.

[00:07:49]
I call you love
[00:07:51]
not because I don't appreciate your given name
[00:07:54]
but when cynicism has us believing that love is fleeting
[00:07:58]
at least I know love has your permanent address.
[00:08:03]
in a world where love has become a word we use too readily at the end of letters
[00:08:07]
you learned to not let yourself be sealed in complacency like stone walls
[00:08:12]
echoing queer culture displaced in a generation and breaking bones and sounds were the only ways that we could tear ourselves out of the restraints of a straight jacket so we learn from history
[00:08:22]
build no emotional walls
[00:08:23]
because there are too many and too high in Gaza
[00:08:26]
Where former neighbors gaze into brute barriers to remember every hello before the concrete goodbye
[00:08:30]
and must look upwards towards heaven in hopes that their prayers are still friends on the other side
[00:08:35]
because spiritually, love knows no boundaries.
[00:08:39]
Unlike the heavily guarded borders under the- edging the ends of Mexico to the beginnings of San Diego
[00:08:43]
where families desperate to cross to get to their borders in hopes of their dreams
[00:08:48]
will only meet at the ends of Minute Men and the sharpshooters
[00:08:52]
and there I know
[00:08:55]
love.

[00:09:01]
So, I'll take a minute then to think before I ever use my sharp tongue against you
[00:09:05]
because when I first met you, I was desperately crossing to get to my