ivy by Litong Deng (16, California)

stereotypically asian i 
​
will never be like the part-timers at 
harvard 
who are part-time entrepreneurs 
d1 soccer players 
scientific researchers 
and award-winning artists

​only sometimes loving math i 

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will never be like the mathematicians at 
stanford 
who discovered a love for math at age 4 
qualified for aime at age 12 
and wrote papers on some theorem i’d never even heard of

​twice cut from the basketball team i

will never be like the athletes at 
duke 
who dunk after going through the legs 
confidently turn around after a three 
and hoist an mvp trophy 3 years in a row

​grammar-loving, not-an-author i

will never be like the writers at 
brown 
who murder their darlings 
use enjambment to evoke 
and know shakespeare’s 18th sonnet by heart

​memorizing covid variant code names i

will never be like the pre-meds at
johns hopkins 
who want to find a cure for cancer 
alzheimers 
and prevent the next global pandemic

tone-deaf, pitch-blind i

will never be like the musicians at 
juilliard 
who have perfect pitch 
performed la campanella at age 4 
and play everything by ear 

loving technology, hating computer science i

will never be like the engineers at 
mit 
who achieved usaco platinum 
writes code for a fortune 500 
and has scripts for everything 

​untalented dumb short boring shortsighted distasteful illogical i 
will never be enough