Nihonjin, American

I come from the land of paper cranes
The twangy strum of a shamisen
Where women painted faces white
Beautiful in the eyes of men
Yamanashi, Hiroshima
Woven gold threads on a kimono
Fishing, farming villages
To urban chaos in Tokyo
Crowded subways, no room to breathe
Upbeat J-pop I can't stand
Obento boxes filled with treasures
Vending machines with hot drinks canned
Mixture of the old and new
Tradition and technology
Ancient obon festivals
Crazy game shows on TV
Bowing low, ohayoo
Floors padded with tatami
Pink sakura in the spring
Adorn the regal Mount Fuji
Ozoni soup on New Year's morning
Beautiful tsuru, feathers white
Paper lanterns that sway in the wind
Fly like the tail of a samurai kite
Parents of separate heritages
Nihonjin, American
A mixture of cultures worlds apart
Hapa makes me who I am

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Sarah Esser, age 15
2008 Finalist
Lowell High School
Teacher: Susan Terence (California Poets in the Schools)