The White Au Dai Poem by Thomas Thompson

This poem is from an incident that occurred in Saigon in 1966. It was painful to watch happening realtime and there was naught I, or the driver, could do to prevent it.

Yes, this incident still haunts me to this day even though I've tried everything to come to grips with what happened that sultry warm afternoon. I wrote a backstop to this poem that is far too long to accompany this poem. The backstop adds far more context to the why and how it happened, including the aftermath of hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of Vietnamese boiling out of their shanties, tin shacks, ramshackle huts with all sorts of weapons in their hands, sticks, butcher knives, anything the angry Vietnamese could pick up as they attacked our truck, and how fast everything happened in the aftermath of this tragic accident. If this Vietnamese military police would not have arrived when they did, I would not be here today to post this poem.

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Thursday, October 9,2013; revised October 11

The White Au Dai

She seemed serene
As if her legs
Her arms
The slight tilt of her head
Had been artfully composed

Her grace and beauty a sharp contrast
Against the dirt and grime
As she lay encircled by an angry mob
Enraged by the tire tracks running hip to shoulder
When she was unexpectedly swept under the dual wheels

As I looked on helplessly
No time to shout a warning
To either the driver or the elegant young lady
Riding sidesaddle behind her friend
When suddenly the moped veered too close

The slight thump thump still in my mind

Her white au dai splashed in brilliant red

Tommy