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.