someone like me

growing up

i didn’t know other kids like me

someone with an american dad

and a mom who’s japanese

the older i got

the less kids i see

who had dark black hair

and dark brown eyes like me

i didn’t know i was different

because of the way i looked

or the way spoke

or even by what my mom cooks

as a kid

i brought japanese food to the table

kids making fun of what i ate

because there was a part of me i couldn’t disable

i became embarrassed 

because of my eyes

and because of my life

there’s a part of me i kept inside

i didn’t want to be asian

i didn’t want to be seen

because i never knew

people who looked like me

someone who is mixed

because no matter where i go

no matter where i stay

part of me never wanted to show

in america i’m a bit too asian

in japan i’m a bit too white

people made assumptions about me

and this is why i write

i write because i am lost

lost in a world i can’t find myself

in all of these movies

or anywhere on the bookshelf

i’ve always been asked

where are you from?

and when i said where

they didn’t like where i come

born in raised in america

in the state of tennessee

but that’s not what they wanted

they wanted to know i was japanese

i soon realized

that this life i had has changed

the way people see me

is now rearranged

culture has a made a switch

to people who look like me

they made it acceptable

for me to be seen

even if i don’t feel comfortable

in my own skin

i know i have been accepted

to the world i’m in

that people

who are different can see

that eventually it’s okay

for someone to look like me