A Woman Worn Down
For Asian mothers compartmentalizing racism.
A Woman Worn Down
Working two jobs
A server at a Japanese restaurant
Desperate, trying to earn money
To get away from him
And go home.
“Go home, you [redacted]!”
English is my second language
How am I supposed to respond?
I am taught to be quiet.
His hat says “VIETNAM WAR VETERAN”
I am in Texas.
I’m in a Japanese restaurant.
I’m not even Vietnamese.
But the customer is always right
(Even when they throw racial slurs?)
Even if they mistake your ethnicity.
(Even when I am about to burst into tears?)
Even if you weren’t even alive until 1962.
The United States isn’t even my home.
I am trying to get back home.
About the Creator
Nana Ogburn
22, half Japanese, half American, bachelor's in English, manifesting trauma through creativity.
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