Archive for September, 2005
I’m not your typical Asian female
I’m not your typical Asian female.
My hair is not silky, long, and straight. It’s
short and thick and coarse. The ends
bristle like a new broom. The surface
frizzes in humidity. A thatch of white
hides on my 33-year old head, though
lately it’s become bolder, and peeks
out occasionally, to see what’s going on.
I’m not your typical Asian female. My
skin is not pale and porcelain-clear. Freckles
abound, brown spots and splotches striding
across my face like they own the place. I’ve
tried every whitening product known to wo/
man. I’ve tried to stay out of the sun. My
freckles do a little dance when I go there.
I’m not your typical Asian female. My
arms and legs are not bone-thin. My
delts and biceps swell at even the sight
of a weight machine. I have thighs
one clap short of thunder, I have
rice-paddy calves, made for squatting. I’d
have made an excellent peasant, I’d
have made some farmer a good wife.
But,
If my hair were silky, long, and straight, if
my freckles disappeared, if my arms and legs
were indeed bone-thin, I wouldn’t be writing this poem.
My hair wouldn’t curl in the rain, one wayward loop
to be brushed away by a tender hand. My face
wouldn’t be as surprising upon second glance –
you have freckles! always said with delight. Thin limbs
would lose me in a midst of wispy girls. I’d not stride
as strong and fast, I’d not clap as loudly. I’d be
your typical Asian girl.
BUT,
Is there really such a thing as a typical Asian girl? Is
there such a thing as a typical any girl, a typical
any woman, a typical any one? Everyone is atypical.
Everyone should shake their coarse, white-streaked heads,
lift their freckle-covered faces, raise their thick, strong arms –
everyone should do a little dance in the sun.
