“Origin Story” by Lucia Santos
November 13, 2020
Born from island clay
Red and wet, with eyes open
Crawl to a garden
Place me in a bed of ferns
I grow, I am energy.
I’ll tell you of my first time
talking to a plant.
Most was listening.
I swam forever
Because I could, and I had to.
Water carried me.
My fear of the kelp and weeds
receded with each arm’s stroke.
Lucia Santos is a 2020/21 cohort member of the Seattle Youth Poet Laureate program. Performed on the digital stage for a Seattle Arts & Lectures’ Literary Arts Series event with Yaa Gyasi on Monday, November 16, 2020.