Kabuki Masks
by Tina Zhu
The parade was canceled midway through due to the sudden downpour. Before the crowds scattered, two performers with Kabuki masks appeared, expressions red and black angry swirls painted on pale faces that weren’t faces. I cried. My father scolded me like always. If I were scared of mere masks and rain, I wouldn’t be able to survive in America, he said. He was wrong. To become American is to learn how to wear masks. But his limestone grave on a hill has never seen visitors, and I hear his carved smile is slowly dissolving in the rain.
Tina S. Zhu writes from her desk in California. Her work has been published in Tor.com, X-R-A-Y, and Fireside Magazine, among other places. She can be found on Twitter @tinaszhu and at tinaszhu.com.
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What surprising, fascinating stuff can you tell us about the origin, drafting, and/or final version of “Kabuki Masks”? My family used to live in Ibaraki, Japan, which was where I was born and spent my early childhood before we moved to America. I had this inexplicable fear of Kabuki masks and Noh masks (not surprisingly, clowns terrified me too). My goal with this piece was to explore all the meanings an inanimate object can gain over a lifetime via this unnamed narrator’s view on masks.
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Submissions
Poetry, creative nonfiction, and fiction/prose poetry submissions are now closed. The reading period for standard submissions opens again September 15, 2025. Submit here.
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