Gifted and Talented
Updated: Apr 2
Dear Asian Youth,
gifted and talented
bright-eyed babe,
you twirl your pencil in your hands
you seek sun and scraped knees
you talk too loud in class,
in the best sense
your words make a dry mouth
a thirst to know more
To be more
they teach you to aspire, among the stacks of books you drink
and the letters you weave together, among your countless calculations
and world-weary abacus. How funny it looks,
contrasted against your young hands
ah, your hands,
they shall hold them, tiny palms encircled, and tell you you are destined for greater things
and suddenly it doesn’t matter.
It doesn’t matter how loud you talk,
how bright your eyes shine,
Good children are quiet
They are well-behaved
They know
They see
They think,
minds whirring unlike any other
take the world in and apart with your mental
processes
there’s no need to talk,
there is only knowing.
No need to question or feel or yearn or decry
that is simply how it is
and suddenly, you are the perfect child
you are neat grades and clean shoes
you are a pleasure to have in class
you are gifted and talented
You are the child your parents dreamed of
when they came here, miles away
the child of opportunity
the one seizing the better, fabled life
the truest American lie, for you work twice as hard as any other
and it still isn’t enough.
Will it ever be?
Even as your hands tremble with fear, unable to bring pencil to paper
even as you pin your worth on a single test
They can still hold you close and tell you, over and over
You are enough
You did your best
But you tell yourself, yes
I did my best
I did the best I could
I tried and if this is my best,
it still isn’t enough...is it?
I’m still not enough, am I?
funnily enough, I have no special talents
I am not gifted
I hold calluses in my hand, heavy and red
these are marks of work
For I can at least admit to diligence
Things that put up what I wanted to be
I want to make you proud, I cry,
heavy heart buried in the soil from
my homeland
Am I really doing the best I can?