Teen Poetry Collections

My Roots

by a young woman in detention

Half of my family is in Mexico,
the other half is here.
I was born and raised in Seattle
surrounded by tall pine trees rivers and mountains
where the sun shines and hides in the winter months.
The rain is abundant and keeps everything green
I am disconnected from my family in Mexico.
They only hear the bad things
but not the good things.
They do not know I am an artist
I play the bass like nobody’s business
I tried to follow the footsteps
of my family but they don’t know that.
I got in a fight with my father.
My grandmother
doesn’t like me either.

My Spanish isn’t that good
but the music in me sings through my fingers when I play
my emotions on the bass.
I like the deep tones as deep as the feelings in my heart.
I want to say what I feel if they would just listen.
But I can always be the artist I already know I am
because I take pride in the roots deep down
in the soil where I walk and the one where I will walk
some day.