To celebrate the final days of National Poetry Month in April, two graduating student poets shared their work with the Foghorn.
For The Girl Who Looks Like Me — by Priana Aquino
Here’s to you, my love
who sees what I see
without needing to explain
Your eyes gleaming with hope
right before someone asks
why you can’t open them further
I wish I could scoop you up in my arms and tell you that
you belong
without wondering for a second if part of me is lying to you
Let me listen while you tell me what it’s like
to lose before you’ve played
To never be enough or to sometimes be “too much”
(whatever that means)
To see yourself on a movie screen only to
walk home from the theater
wondering where you’ll lay your head that night
I wish I could tell you about the school lunches I hid in my
locker or what men yell at me from car windows
I wish I could properly explain to you how
beautiful you are
before someone else
ruins that for you too
I wish this poem had a
better ending—
a promise to keep, a gift to tie with a bow and leave
behind— part of me wishes I didn’t have to write this at all.
How much my heart hurts for the woman I was
and the woman you will be
for the sister I sometimes didn’t have
and the protector I should have been
For the love you are
and the love you must be
for all who came
before and all who
come after us:
to carry on an unwritten
legacy and to find a
better ending than this.
new year intentions — by Bridgette Yang
even now / i keep tracing the genealogy of all my past selves in attempt to predict the future
/ so far / i’ve been born twice / first: by my mother’s side / second: at an open mic / yet
every time the new year approaches / it feels like learning how to walk again / will i cry less
this time? / will i fall behind? / starting over is a gift but still / i am afraid of its unraveling /
this year / i only wish for bravery / for courage to know my name / 2022 is the year i look
fear in the eyes & hold its gaze / no longer wait for someone to save me / rubied and ready
i want to be soft as sunset / tender as smoke / build a boat of hope and wrap the world with
my warmth / find me where the moon sings / let’s see what time brings / soak in every
moment and maybe / if i kiss today hard enough i will get to marry tomorrow / & joy will
ghostwrite our vows / and compassion — the flowergirl / perhaps / my only resolution
is to pursue evolution / embrace all the selves i have and will become / i am still trying to
learn what it means to leave a legacy of love / how to choose what i want to carry and what
i want to leave behind / but then again / if i stay the same i will be gentle / i will be kind /
because sometimes / the most beautiful beginnings / are the ones where nothing has to end
