Sosé Hovannisian, age 17

I wrote this poem for an assignment called “I Am” back in ninth grade. I am a stranger to poetry, so I was very happy when my teacher reached out to me about it now, in my junior year, saying it remains her favorite.

I Am an Armenian Girl

I am an Armenian girl, spirited but broken-hearted
I wonder how many people suffered for me to be where I am today
I hear the crying of a million-and-a-half souls, longing for life
I see my country’s lost mountains whose beauty was taken
I want to restore my homeland of its losses
I am an Armenian girl, spirited but broken-hearted

I pretend that I don’t belong to the diaspora, and that I can only call Armenia home
I feel like a lost dog who knows the way homeward, but just can’t get there
I touch the branches of the pomegranate trees dancing in the village fields
I worry that others will never get to see the beauty of my homeland
I cry when I remember that I am 7,000 miles away
I am an Armenian girl, spirited but broken-hearted

I understand why I’m in Los Angeles today
I say I don’t belong here in this melting pot of cultures
I dream of moving and spending the rest of my life in Armenia
I try to support my brothers and sisters there from my California home
I hope to feel whole when I arrive there
I am an Armenian girl, spirited but broken-hearted