American Embassy of Horror

I wrote this when I was trying to get my wife Cat Ky to America from Ho Chi Minh Vietnam. This was my second attempt, and I only had one left and then would be forced to start the whole process over.

American Embassy of Horror

 

You have taken away my love from me

You do rip away our hope

Our dreams are dust upon the wind

As for answers we do grope

 

From behind your bulletproof glass; you say

Dot this “I” and cross this “T”

Since you blew it the first time

Do it all again and pay this fee

 

Still full of love and hope filled

We did everything you asked

Though as soon as we finished one

You assigned us a new task

 

“Tell us how you feel,” you said

“But, do it in 500 words

Tell us how much you love her

But leave out the songs and birds”

 

“Your words are pretty but meaningless

You will have to show us more proof

Pictures of your wedding and honeymoon

So we will know it’s not a spoof”

 

“Sir you are not getting the point

This is not hardly enough

Give us notarized statements from witnesses

Two weeks sir, and then we get tough.”

 

So we dotted our “I’s” and crossed our “T’s”

Careful, to do it all right

Gathering pictures and notarized statements

We did gear up for the fight

 

For fight it is, be not fooled

By all the whistles and bells

To bring your love to freedoms shore

Prepare to face living Hell

 

Finally comes the day of reckoning

Your appointment is finally made

Every moment of your time together

In a briefcase you have saved

 

A year and a half for this moment

When they will decide your fate

With your briefcase full of memories

You are frantic to not be late

 

Only to be told you are not allowed

They wish only to see her

If you object to their procedure

They treat you like a rabid cur

 

Part II

My wife called from Vietnam today

Her voice was husky with tears

Despite our valiant efforts to comply

They had confirmed our fears

 

Our months of preparation

It all had come to naught

They insisted that we were liars

That now we had been caught

 

“We need more notarized statements

A timeline don’t you see?

We do not believe this is truth

But to prove it you are free.”

 

So I dropped everything I had going

Everything I had planned

Put our situation in peril

To fly to a foreign land

 

Surely if I was there myself

They could not fail to see

Our love was true, and devout

Together we deserve to be

 

14000 miles later did I

Hug my darling wife

Assured her we had a chance

To still fulfill our lives

 

So we checked then checked again

Surely enough this will be

But bureaucracy has its own agenda

It is logical don’t you see

 

They refused to see me or our proof

They said they did not have too

“All we want Sir is what we asked;

That is what you have to do!”

 

Then they handed their decision down

On a piece of paper no less

Never having talked to either of us

They did what they thought was best

 

It said:

Despite your pictures and notarized statements

Your proof of this or that

We feel you married too quickly

So we will not give you a chance

 

The wedding was way too small, and

Your engagement was a joke

Where was your family from America?

 Are they deadbeats who were broke?

 

As any perceptive man can see

We think all this is a ruse

The American government is tolerant

But we shall not be abused

 

For their minds were made up already

And nothing was proof enough

Not a thousand more pictures of love

Not a mountain of things they call stuff

 

So now our hearts are broken

Our dreams a shattered board

Next will come the lawyers

That we cannot afford

 

 

 For honesty was not enough

Nor commitment, nor our love

To people who play God with lives

And pass judgments from above

 

Only time now our story will tell

The ending of it in doubt

Like thousands of others who also

Have no voice to shout

 

So I shout from the highest mountain

To the depths of the deepest sea

Something needs to change my friend

We can not just let this be

 

I feel just like; I am a prisoner

Though having committed no crime

The Embassy though has committed one

By stealing our precious time

 

Time that could have been building memories

To carry with us unto old age

Yet my wife sits upon a foreign shore

While I deal with frustration and rage

 

 

And if you are not enraged

Then you are not paying attention

For people are being denied their rights

And also suffer from my frustration

 

Perhaps if I would have known who to bribe

My wife would be with me now

Is that the way America works?

Can you tell me, tell me how?

 

Life, Liberty, the Pursuit of Happiness

The Right to Free Speech

To Live, to Love, to Grow

How about the Right to Marry who you want?

Where is the Justice for us?

I understand that there are scams,

That there are people who prey on the system

But thousands of others are honest like me

And being beaten down by the system

The American Embassy of Horror

That is what it should be called

No more I implore the public

Make your voice be heard

Tell the politicians this is wrong

Anthony Craig Hotopp

American Citizen

 

Epilogue: My third trip to Vietnam was the charm.  It was my 30th day there when the Embassy Fraud Department showed up at our door.  Two very dour looking men kind of like the men in black but without the coats.  Vietnam being too hot to wear a suit coat.  They went up to our room where I showed them the bed we slept together on and the closet and dresser where our clothes were together.  They separated us and asked us embarrassing questions that I will not go into.  Then I noticed the one guy nudge the other quy and point to the erase board on the wall. 

On the board were several job seeking appointments and at the top it said “Things to Do”   Under that the First thing to do was Monday-Sunday ‘Hug My Wife, Kiss my Wife, Love my Wife.’  Now bear in mind, we had no idea these guys were going to show up, so it could not have been contrived.  All this went on for hours and finally my frustrations just reached a peak.  I turned to the guy I perceived to be in charge and said… “Look, here’s the deal… I have a job now here in Vietnam.  This is my bosses name and the School he works for.  My job is to teach ESL.  So you either let me take my wife home…  Or I am going to quit my job in America, extend my Visa and damn well gonna stay here in Vietnam until such time as you let me take her home.  Whatta Ya think of that?” 

They said they needed to discuss it and went downstairs.  Then they called my wife downstairs.  Then they all came upstairs and the guy in charge told me.  So Mr. Hotopp.  When you get to America I want you to understand what you are facing.  There are cultural differences between the two of you and you will have to be understanding.  Blah…Blah…Blah.. Neener… neener…  “Uh?”  I said with all the intelligence I could muster, seeing that my brain was frozen.  “Does this mean I get to take my wife home?!”  They both laughed and the first clapped me on the shoulder and said.  “Gee, I’m sorry Mr. Hotopp, I thought we had made that clear… Yes, Yes you get to take your wife home.”

As I said before, I am not a demonstrative man, and I do not cry easily.  The last time was on my plane trip after I failed to bring her back for the second time. My heart was broken and I cried off and on ‘quietly’  the whole trip, then when I got home I wrote this poem.   But now tears of happiness were streaming down face as I grabbed my wife up in a breath taking squeeze that liked to have broken her ribs.  I couldn’t stop crying babbling and laughing. The men in black had even become congenial and were congratulating me and shaking my hand and pounding me on the back… The other one, not the one in charge said, “Sir, I can tell you really love your wife… We deal with so much crap, it is truly nice to come across a couple like you.  You’ve made our day, and… Good Luck.” 

 

3 years and thousands of dollars and half a year in a foreign country.

 

It was worth it!

I love her so much.

 

Our 9th wedding Anniversary is Jan 17 2017

We are buying a house and are still as much in love as the day we met...

Kind of ironic isn't it?

Anthony Hotopp Wolf ,'', ^@@^ ,'',

Author's Note

Just what you think... No corrections as this is a tender part of our history, I will make no changes. Wolf