Patricia Damocles

Mulan in the Suburbs

 
Thanks to Danez Smith’s “Lion King in the Hood”
 
                            i. cast list
 
Fa Mulan played by the girl who did not ask to be a daughter
 
Fa Zhou & his high expectations played by every Asian father ever
 
Fa Li played by the woman in the airport carrying more than her own baggage
 
Grandmother Fa played by the woman weeping in her Toyota Camry for not knowing
how to speak English
 
Li Shang played by the boy with straight As because anything else meant you brought
dishonor on your whole family
 
Mushu played by the friend who is labeled “crouching tiger, hidden dragon” for having
eyes as slanted as an asymptote
 
Cri-Kee played by the friend who throws a handful of fortune cookies in your Chinese
takeout
 
The Emperor played by anyone who has ever been told to “Go back to China”
 
The hoard of Huns played by the air of assimilation
suffocating the China doll to become as porcelain
as the men plagued with yellow fever
 
                            ii. Opening Credits
 
              brought to you by Disney & dead ancestors
 
brought to you by the Great Stone Dragon, a facade to fragile masculinity
 
              brought to you by Opium Wars and psychedelic fantasies
 
brought to you by The Chinese Exclusion Act passed by the people who capitalized on
products
              Made in China
 
                            iii. Song: I’ll Make a Man Out of You
 
this is the part where people realize that Asians—especially men—are not represented
in the media unless you watch Mean Girls, where we’re only binaries. You got the Asian
Nerds and the Cool Asians but there’s no in-between.
 
this is the part where the racist says we all look the same, and that we are nothing unless
we are as
Swift as the coursing river
(Be a man)
With all the force of a great typhoon
(Be a man)
With all the strength of a raging fire
(Be a man)
Mysterious as the dark side of the moon
 
yes, yes, we really are men, (regardless of the size of our bamboo sticks).
 
                            iv. Scene: Mulan Saves China
 
What happens when you live in a country where there is a one-child policy?
Fa Mulan translates to flower: I am an orchid, I am a lily, I am a magnolia.
 
I am the seed who bloomed in a society that smothered me in the same dirt used to bury
their first-born daughters.
 
                            the Huns are no match for my divine femininity.
 
                            v. closing credits
 
whisper the name
of the last boy
you envied
who was loved
by society
while you were rejected.
whisper it as you
cut your hair
in the middle
of the night,
wishing to be
the son your father
always wanted.
whisper it
& watch the heir(ess) fall.




--
Patricia Damocles is a sophomore at Lewis University double majoring in English and Secondary Education. Besides finding comfort in reading and writing poetry, she enjoys the company of her three cats. This is her first national publication.