By Daniel Liu
12th grade, Lake Highland Preparatory School, FL
With lines from "Broken Land: Confronting Climate Change and Migration in Guatemala" by Jessica Marcy and Amelia Tyson, a Pulitzer Center reporting project.
underbelly of the hillside flaxen
y árida. con la tierra
broken, foreign governments divide
cada jardín con precisión, como
a knife splitting burning clouds
en dos, las cenizas humeantes
where green palms once stood.
las plantas marchitas, las hojas amarillas,
the barren ground where nature
había dormido, había reído. ahora,
a battlefield for blame, climate—
esa sombra sin culpa. que niña
in the vanishing harvest
esperando a su mamá, esperando
for the return of livelihoods,
esperando justicia.
still, despite. despite, despite,
a pesar del suelo agrietado,
life is still a circle, an orchard,
un huerto que se abre como un libro,
always following the flock,
escuchando a los pájaros.
like birds, the people’s wings are shy
pero poderosas, listas para volar—
viridescent fury billowing above
a navegar contra la corriente. en la casa,
a mother places all her worry down.
la sonrisa de una hija, sus dientes
like moons, like starshine.
un deseo para su hija. un deseo para
the family to come home
y juegan como niños en el huerto.
hope, a place. hope, a garden
donde no falta nada, donde el paraíso
is a field sown, a landscape restored.
un árbol más fuerte, orgulloso y llena de
soft petals pointed upwards, towards
el cielo.
Daniel Liu is a rising senior. The first in his family to attend high school, Daniel believes language is everything. A National Gold Medalist in Poetry, he has been recognized by YoungArts, the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers, Columbia College, and more. To him, climate injustice requires decolonization and fundamental systemic change only accessible through resistant language. Therefore, narratives require the nativeness of their language. He speaks English, Spanish, Hokkien, and Mandarin. Free Palestine.
Read more winning entries from the 2022 Fighting Words Poetry Contest.