Why I Have Decided to Live

Listen to Kyo Lee read her poem:



Spoonfuls of moonlight. Cold air. Her knit blanket

tugging at my body to stay.

The fog resting on my shoulders, hugging me.

Summer rain through an open window.

Thunderstorms & how they change the world momentarily

unafraid, or even better, unaware of humans.

Because I left my country broken.

Because I saw the first reflection of myself in a candlelight vigil.

Because I was flickering.

Because we made promises.

Because I can keep trying & no one can stop me.

Peaches.

Stars.

Willow trees.

Acoustic music with a trembling voice.

The kinds of poems that give me shivers.

Trains to nowhere in particular.

Our sweat sweet bodies colliding on wet grass.

Her hands & the way they cradle my heart

as if holding something precious.

August night drives.

Singing along to “Riptide” & eating cherries out of buckets.

Because we promised to return.

To mend a broken thing.

How laughter colonizes the lungs.

To think of myself as something larger than myself.

Because I can love every small thing.


Read on . . .

More about the winners of the Ninth Annual High School Writing Contest