I Come From a Fire Breathing Dragon

I come from a fire breathing dragon.
00A fierce family with ambitions
I’ve known my grandparents’ hardships.
00On a rickety boat made of bamboo
With four young children and one on the way
0000On a voyage to America
To start fresh with endless possibilities
0000Back home in Viet Nam
00A deadly war and red colored skies
From houses consisting of a wall or two
0000and maybe a solid roof
Many families thrown out of their own houses
00Forced to start with nothing in the swampy forests
0000No more sitting around in a circle
00Lively conversations and satisfying rice and fresh fish
Now silence fills the house with only the clanking
0000of wooden chopsticks
00Maybe some coffee if enough money was saved
Someday when the fight is over between brother and brother
00We will return home and be able to rest our heads

---

Meagan Le, age 14
San Francisco, California
Lowell High School
Teacher: Susan Terence (Calif. Poets in the Schools)