Refugee Girl

pinnacle of the american dream

cleaning homes

to PhD

aged beyond years of youth

a child; a mother

baby bottle

siblings swaddled

below poverty line

leaky roof

with the rain

collecting in pails

battle scars

of the mind

shell-shocked

refugee girl

long black hair

pale skin

like ivory

holding years

in her eyes

refugee girl

sad smile

refugee girl.

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Carina Kimlan Hinton is a mixed race, Vietnamese American poet /writer who explores issues of identity, cultural belonging and intergenerational trauma. You can find her work in the following publications: DiaCRITICS (Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network), Real Soul (and here), Project Yellow Dress (here and here), Vietnamese Boat People (and here) Watercress Literary Journal (here and here) and the UC Berkeley Literature and Arts Magazine. She was a finalist for the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Digital Storytelling Contest.