[Poetry] Heavy

The weight of your world
On my shoulders
Placed there with good intentions
And tough love,
The weight of your hopes
And dreams
Bending my back
Eternally,

[Poetry] Asian-American

When I was a child, being Asian-American meant breaking wooden chopsticks over a noodle lunchbox, sunny yellow dresses to bring out the sunny yellow of my skin, and laughing with my colorful classmates because we didn’t know yet we were different.

When I grew older, being Asian-American meant seeing for the first time my father’s oil-stained hands from days of toil, and my mother’s quiet strength as she built a home in the middle of a strange language.

[Poetry] Until You Came Along

My life was planned,
Until you came along.
I knew every goal
Of every year,
Until you came along.

I never realized the joy
Of a little finger holding mine,
Until you came along,
Or the charm of a
Sweet, innocent smile,
Until you came along.

[Poetry] Safe Space

I promise I’ll lend you my ear,
If you will lend me your honesty.
I promise I’ll listen without judgment,
If you will speak without lies.

This is a place of emotions,
A place where it’s okay to feel,
I promise they won’t hurt you,
I promise neither will I.

2020 Magical Readathon O.W.L.’s: Completion!

After spending April studying for my O.W.L.’s (aka completing the coolest reading challenge, according to my biased inner Harry-Potter-loving fangirl), I am happy to announce I have read all the books and passed the Readathon! *Cue Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes Fireworks!*

As part of this Readathon, I was instructed to choose a Magical Career—I chose Journalist/Writer—which then provided me with reading prompts. See below for the gorgeous printables of my prompts and click here for my previous post describing the Readathon in more detail.

[Poetry] Moonlit Love

One cannot find love in a cramped ballroom
So I go where wine flows plentifully,
Amidst the talks, a whiff of your perfume,
Shall we gamble? You take my hand and we
Dance away, O Love, let me take command
For our destiny was sewn in the stars.

Pause. Shall We Read Some Poetry?

We are at the halfway mark of April aka the month where poetry gets all the love and everyone thinks it’s cool I’m a poet instead of feeling sorry for me that I’ll never make any money. Although, as the poet Robert Graves once said, “there’s no money in poetry, but then there’s no poetry in money, either.”

It is unfortunate this year’s National Poetry Month is in the midst of a global pandemic, but also oddly opportune—why don’t we all take a pause from the frightening reality outside our homes and escape briefly into the comforting lines of beautiful poetry?

[Poetry] Let Dreams Grow

Let Dreams grow,
For like life,
They flourish with care
And decay with strife.

Let Dreams grow,
For if they die,
Beside their ashes,
Humanity will lie.

[Poetry] A Promise

He promised to show me the sunrise.
We would drive to the beach,
Chasing the dawn,
And wiggle our toes in the sand.

Holding on to his promise
Was like waking up from a dream,
Like reaching out next to me,
To feel the ghost of his hand.

2020 Magical Readathon: O.W.L.’s

Shoutout to Lexie over at Reading in the Wings for sharing this Harry-Potter-inspired reading challenge and making my inner fangirl ask, “where have I been all this time?”

The Magical Readathon is a two-part reading challenge that transforms the two main exams Hogwarts students take (Ordinary Wizarding Levels and Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests) into reading prompts. G aka Book Roast aka the genius behind the Readathon hosts it every year and provides gorgeous printables to guide us along.