Which is better, we debate: car
or scooter? It’s a poor country—
people who want cars

buy scooters. More versatile,
Hung Do explains—can transport
a couch, door, even a water buffalo.

Here is the photo he shows me
on his phone: behind a seated couple,
this bulky animal draped

over their scooter. Only the man
sits fully on the seat, the buffalo’s
legs bound together with heavy

brown rope. Brown cloth wraps
its brown head so it cannot
see, though surely it hears traffic noise.

It’s upside down, looks dead.
No, live, Hung Do says.
They like to kick. No other way

but a scooter to get one home—
an apartment—houses too expensive.
They will eat it, meat and butter fat,

deep-grained hide for shoes.
In the Vietnamese zodiac, the second
animal sign, after the mouse.

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