to da lady who stay looking down her high makamaka nose at us
By Melissa Llanes Brownless
what you stay looking at anyway Are we not dressed appropriately for the grocery store? what? Should we not have bare feet, crusted with sand, or dirt, or mud? you never see kids using food stamps? Are we not rich enough for you with our brown hands gripping colorful paper that is not quite money, given to us by mothers, fathers, aunties, uncles, to get us out of their way? we not stay making any kind, no need for act like that Should we bow our heads and be thankful for your presence, for the money you give our mothers and aunties and sisters, for serving your food, cleaning your room, selling you trinkets made in China? no need for call over the security guard Are we not grateful enough that you allow us to serve you every day, each paycheck gone as quickly as they are earned, our families working way too long and too hard to afford just to live on our islands? we stay going
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About Author
Melissa Llanes Brownlee (she/her), a native Hawaiian writer living in Japan, has work published and forthcoming in The Rumpus, Fractured Lit, Flash Frog, Gigantic Sequins, Cream City Review, Cincinnati Review miCRo, Indiana Review, The ASP Bulletin, Craft, swamp pink, and Moon City Review, and honored in Best Small Fictions, Best Microfictions, and Wigleaf Top 50. Read Hard Skin from Juventud Press and Kahi and Lua from Alien Buddha. She tweets @lumchanmfa and talks story melissallanesbrownlee.com.
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