I
On the road we met an Asian woman.
We looked at her facial mask.
II
From a distant mirror
in the physical therapy room
I saw the reflection
of an old Asian woman.
Her dyed black hair was thin
and frail, like mother’s.
III
Oriental women always have a modest body,
someone shouts at an Asian woman
from his Toyota pickup at
the Walmart parking lot.
IV
An Asian mom.
A tiger mom.
No excuse, no defense.
V
Alex my Aikido instructor asked
an Asian woman,
Where are you from originally?
when she said
she was born in Cleveland.
VI
An Asian woman has become a VP.
A half-Asian woman
has become a VP.
VII
Mulan, Mulan,
a little boy calls an Asian woman,
her Cinderella shoes
made of bamboo glass.
Shanhu Lee is an atmospheric scientist whose speaking languages are English, Chinese, Korean,
and Japanese. She has lived in four different countries on three continents and now lives in
Huntsville, Alabama, where she is an Associate Professor at the University of Alabama. She
writes about cultural dislocation and injustice.
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