Betty Award Poem

 it’s her first day on the job

gotta put on her big girl pants

gotta grab the important papers

six years of nursing school

her friends graduated after three

it was long and hard but 

look at her! off to her first job,

nurse for the kids at the homeless shelter

“ghetto”, her sister said

she decided she’d risk it

stepped out of the maserati

holding her fat prada purse

she preens and tosses her 

bottle blonde locks

steps into her new office

cramped, but it’ll do

she feels ready for anything

a naked infant, all skin and bones

his ribs are shaking with the effort

of supporting his fragile body

his precious vessel; reduced to a squirming

it

she holds 

it

as far from her as 

humanly possible; is

it

human?

is this what 

malnourishment does to a child? 

it’s so small 

it

could rest in the palm 

of her hand

she is disgusted 

the child squats a ways away from her desk

it

scurries to the other side of the room

when the bejeweled

woman with the 

yellow yellow hair approaches 

it

flinches when the 

strange lady in the white white pantsuit

reaches a 

tan tan

hand covered in rings towards her

“abuse”, they said

“starved”, they murmured

shaking their sheltered heads

she stares at the small child

scarred from years of unimaginable pain and  

she lifts the girl’s shirt

sees the cuts from the broken bottles

the bruises from the intoxicated fists

the child’s eyes well up into tears and 

a small sapling of 

something

sprouts in the barren wasteland of 

“it’s not my problem”

she looks at the girl’s too big pants

more patches than denim

she observes the girl’s too small shirt

years of wear 

reduced to nothingness

she stares at the girl’s toothpick legs

pale as the moon 

marred with 

day-old 

week-old

year-old bruises

she glances at the girl’s matted hair

hasn’t seen a caress 

from a loving hand 

since ever

she feels something in that nothing

something more than pity

or condescending

she understands 

what she did not understand before

these “it”s

these aliens in her perfect world

they matter.

Mandarin Composition: A Snowy Day

今天我给大家介绍的地方是北京的鸟巢和水立方,他们是中国的奥林匹克公园的两个部分。北京是中国的首都,对中国特别重要。

鸟巢,又叫北京的国家体育场。人们叫它鸟巢是因为这个体育馆特别像一个真正的鸟巢,窗户的边界像鸟巢的棍子,树枝。鸟巢这个体育馆,有一个可以打开的屋顶 – 这也是为什么人们认为这个建筑长得像一个鸟巢的一个原因。在二零零八年,鸟巢被用于夏季奥运会。它也会在二零二二年被用于冬季奥运会。

奥林匹克公园另一个重要地方的地方是水立方。水立方也叫北京国家游泳中心,是奥运会的游泳馆,人们平常也可以去那里玩。水立方外面像是有气泡,在晚上的时候,气泡会发出来蓝色的光,特别漂亮。水立方在里面有一个水上乐园,还可以举办游泳比赛。现在可以在水立方做冰壶。

我去北京姥姥家的时候,只见到了鸟巢的表面,但是我惊呆了。鸟巢又大,外面又优雅。在鸟巢边上有比赛足球在一个很大的屏幕在放着。我跟我的阿姨和姐姐去了旁边水立方游泳。里面很热闹,有很多人和卖场。里面虽然有很多人,也很干净。去水立方是我在中国的一个最好的回忆。