Honorable Mention – 2024 Beverly Hopkins Contest for High School Students

When My Parents Were Kids

by MOHINI MAHAJAN
Clayton High School

When my parents were kids,
Daytime smothered the horizon,
But Night had sharper stars,
So the dusk was never ending,

When my parents were kids,
They weren’t first generation like me,
They could grasp their ancestors around them,
I mistake mango trees for temples,

When my parents were kids,
They lied in four languages,
I can’t speak my truth,
It must be in my DNA,

When my parents were kids,
They didn’t have to write poetry,
Why would they yearn for a rhythm,
Already thrumming in their blood,

When I was a kid,
I lined silhouettes with gold,
Before their mythos could transform into,
Whatever lesson they wanted to teach me,

When I was a kid,
The dusk turned to smog,
My words became a weapon,
I notched the arrow on my pride,

When I was a kid,
On the way home from school,
I would pray to every tree,
Substitute leaves for missing pieces,

Scale the canopies,
Just to feel inches closer to,
When my parents were kids.