by Kim Loan Chu

Mai Yer Xiong, *Plumeria at the Boun Suang Heua (Boat Racing Festival) in Vientiane, Laos*, digital photograph, 2017. Courtesy of the artist.

what blooms

Kim Loan Chu | APR 2026 | Issue 51

the graceful spirit of plumeria
blooms in golden laces
on brown branches bare
from the wandering beaches of Hawai’i,
to the gentle gardens of Laos
— a country marked
the most bombed in the world
because of a tragedy called
the Vietnam War on one side,
and the American War on the other.

and yet,
plumeria still quietly unfolds
from scorched soil
to whisper the story
of life after
darkness to souls seeking
softness through thunderous
silence.

Born in a refugee camp and the first in her family to graduate college, Kim Loan Chu writes to explore lineage, light, and transformation. Her writing appears in diaCRITICS and Saigoneer and has been supported by the McCormack Writing Center (formerly Tin House), Corporeal Writing, Sackett Street Writers, and elsewhere. After over a decade in consulting, international development, social entrepreneurship, and big tech, Kim Loan is now breathing life into her memoir-in-progress. Kim Loan loves life, plants, ice cream, and traveling the world.