yours truly by Kayleigh Sim (17, California)

i. my dearest america-- i profess that yes, i may not be pretty but i am not exotic. america i wish i didn’t believe in otherworldly life but i can’t seem to forget how you gaze at my dark hair & sun-kissed skin like an unearthly artifact. i bury my green card that says that i am a daughter of an alien & it grows into a dandelion weed. america if you are a garden of eden i crave to drink your ambrosia from chopsticks & porcelain spoons and still taste salvation, swallow your life’s elixir in jasmine tea & rice wine and sing that i’ve lived the american dream. my dearest america i profess that i have too much longing, lying to myself that no, i am not hungry. 
                 yours truly, a girl who spills tears over your flower boutique’s freshly cut flowers because you’ve stripped them of their elegantly tangled roots.

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ii. my beloved singapore-- sometimes i wonder how i can be an island upon an island. singapore i am a stranger in my own homeland, my american-accented english falling like snow on your tropical earth. you whisper that i’ve forgotten my own tongue, an american soul hiding behind an asian complexion. singapore you’ve never heard mother-tongued mandarin spill from my lips, or natural-born hokkien sprouting from my gums, flourishing through my teeth. never watched as i bathe in coconut milk & pandan extract because it reminds me of you. my beloved homeland i profess that i deceive myself with white lies, holding your passport to my bleeding heart & whispering to myself that you still love me. 
                 yours truly, a girl who digs into your botanic gardens with earth-filled nails to prove that no, she hasn’t lost her roots.

iii. i dream of a dandelion weed that you snap at the stem, leaving its tangled roots in this american soil. i dream of watering the ruins with my tears of coconut milk, whispering to it in my eloquent tongues. i dream of it shattering through this earth once again, and i tell myself that no, i am not naive. 
                 yours truly, a girl who has too many dreams.

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