Hanna Docampo Pham
Hanna Docampo Pham is 14 years old and goes to Westmoor High School. They love writing poetry, writing stories, and creating art.
Poem on Belonging
BURIED SPRING In dedication to Colma, believed to mean Spring in Ohlone what if we could stop the construction because the hundreds of glittering windows was less than the land under our feet? what if you could put a price on the smile of a hundred families of different homes under one roof, of not building but sky? what if we saw the depth of our roots before weeds? if before we learned priceless not meant useless, meant nothing on our soil. what if for every breath lost to beauty, we still overrepresented over those lost to the scorn raining down on us, unprotected by the reaching branches of Mexican Lemon, Mandarin Clementine, Currants, Prickly Pear Cactus, Avocado, Nectarine, 200+ trees that we doubt will continue to see light here if they cannot even be seen on the proposal. because there is a loss of words for –One of the most densely populated cities in the United States of America & losing the only community garden– we could not imagine, i could not imagine, that this is the plan. must we say, we love: the flowers in the air, birds singing, endless varieties growing, land blooming. Debbie Santiago, “Everything you see and touch in the garden is living and sacred” look at the map: promise of green space does not guarantee our space & we shouldn’t be counting the years when they think we can handle it when they think we will stand for this and i must ask our people to answer this.
Copyright © 2022 Hanna Docampo Pham. Used with permission of the author.