Featured Artwork: Anna Parini
He returns home
With his buttoned shirt
And maroon tie
He breathes it in
And lets out a sigh
His backpack slouching
Descends to the side
And plummets down
With a muffled cry
He can’t disclose it
Can’t let his parents know
He failed his test
Can’t let it be known
He’s agitated about what an end of a stick
Might do to him
Frightened they’ll loathe him even more
Petrified
Filled with remorse
He attempted his best
He did his utmost
But his parents insist
For so much
And he takes a fall…
He ponders on if
He ought to end it all
As no compassion
From his parents
Assembled cold walls
And little Jun Yang
Feels all alone in the room
Where the only voice
He discerns
Is his own
And the only worries are
“What did he do wrong”
And the only inquiries he has
Is “how to move on?
And why is it every time
He reaches out
He feels his clench unlatching
Feels his body trembling…
Maybe this is his body’s way
Of giving up
On everything
But why?
Why did we let him
Just die?
Die
This young child
Felt despondent,
Isolated,
And departed
In the middle of the night
A future
Vivid,
Promising
Now dissipated
In thin sight
All because
A single grade
Was made
To define
His entire life
Why?
Canada,
Parents must be enlightened
With the notion
That their children
Have more to propose
More to present…
Than their lives
Because
Otherwise,
We have just have latched doors
And no way out
And these little children
Will have no way to sprout…
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