by: Sam Rivas, Contributor & Guest Author
Asian American Pacific Islander writers whose books have conversations with one another on the theme of intersectional feminism and womanhood.
A Bestiary by Lily Hoang
“To prove our renowned endurance of pain, Vietnamese women
adorn their wrists with jade bracelets. In order to get the damn thing
on, one must distort the hand, almost breaking it. I have yellow
bruises for days, and yet: this is proof of our delicacy: how well we
take that agony and internalize it. The tighter the fit, the more suf-
fering the woman can persevere, the more beautiful she is considered.”
—“on the RAT RACE” (18)
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Mosquito & Ant by Kimiko Hahn poems
“I realize now
how lithe I was when I thought
I was the ugly daughter--how
tremulous my beauty. I didn't know”
—“Wax Initial Correspondence to L…” (17)
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If They Come for Us by Fatimah Asghar
“you're a daughter until they
bury your mother, until you're not invited to your father's funeral.
you're a virgin until you get too drunk. you're muslim until you're not
a virgin. you're pakistani until they start throwing acid. you're muslim
until it's too dangerous. you're safe until you're alone. you're american
until the towers fall, until there's a border on your back.” — “Partition” (9)
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Over Pour by Jane Wong
“A river only rises
in rain. A river only courses in one
direction. I don't know if this is true.
My father points to a store across the street and I walk toward it
with purpose. In a storm, the sky has purpose.
To glance below and say: what for? The land,
the animals, the people sitting in front of a television,
alone. This is the definition of sacrifice.
What is all this leaving good for? To return a face
we keep for keeping's sake? My mother laughs into a bowl of soup
or blows on it because it is too hot. The purpose of a spool of thread
is to calculate distance. My mother left home in 1982.
The hem of her wedding dress is 7,326 miles and what for
More cactus flower in your mouth”
—- “Encyclopedia Vol.” (55)
