The Yellow Woman’s Burden

The yellow woman’s burden is holding.
We Hold family expectations of perfection. Silence.

To uphold tradition is asian. Culture.
To uphold progress is American. Innovation.

To hold the family & others is asian. 
To hold the self & career is American.

To hold place in line, to hold head low as you get humiliated for your look, for your accent, for your submissive, for being dominated is asian. To hold head high as people shit on you, so you can cry privately, American.

Hold, hold, hold all these contradictions in your body until you have allergies and your eyes give out from crying, your brow permanently etched in two harbingers if anxiety like your moms matching angry lines.

To hold the matriarchy in family is Asian. To hold and prop up the patriarchy outside is Asian -and- American.

(we are)
To hold space for others
To hold none for ourselves.

Hold, hold, hold on.

About the poet: Hannah Hong Frelot is an eclectic writer and visual culture thinker obsessed with issues of social justice and motherhood.