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# I Fear I Look Too Much Like My Mother
- URL: https://www.fsm.ink/i-fear-i-look/
- Published: 2025-09-08T13:00:12.000Z
- Updated: 2026-06-03T17:44:40.000Z
- Author: Isabel Dorn
- Tags: Poetry, #Import 2026-08-03 09:59

*by Isabel Dorn*

*New London, WI. 2020.*  
I fear I look too much like my mother –  
hair too black, bones too fragile  
a face that chillingly resembles  
the woman on TV with bloodstained temples  
her face unrecognizable after the attack  
a face half hidden behind a paper-thin mask  
to assure them that we mean no harm  
in case you don’t notice we are unarmed

I fear I look nothing like my mother –  
eyes too round, nose too pointed  
a face that only vaguely resembles  
the women of Da Nang in their family temples  
a city unrecognizable after the attacks  
a horror half hidden behind history’s mask  
to assure us that they meant no harm  
 (in case you didn’t notice, we were unarmed)

> Isabel Dorn (she/her) is a graduate student who uses poetry to examine the complexities of intersectionality and coming of age in the 21st century. As a Vietnamese American woman, she sees writing as a powerful tool for social justice and strives to create more visibility for underrepresented groups with her work.