"Yellow Fever" by Raisa Alexis N. Santos

"Yellow Fever"

It’s just a kiss on the cheek you said

The lightest of touches

What about a feathery caress

From my hand to my arm

And slowly up my thigh I’ve turned into a little Chinadoll Yours to be dressed My Asian features make you think I’m some kind of prize One who won’t try to refuse your advances The perfect mail order bride I’m a weak and timid girl Living off the fountain of youth Perpetually kawaii But what can come true Are those dreams in your head Just say the word I’ll be a geisha in bed

This sexualization of my ethnicity Makes me an object to use Not a subject of my own story All because of this contagious flu

This isn’t an anime I’m a three dimensional woman And your sleazy unwanted desires Of making me a Barbie to your Ken Are really the effects of colonization When men refuse to label their lust Asian fetishization

Photo by Kate McGorry