Pongo Poetry Project's mission is to engage youth in writing poetry to inspire healing and growth. In the spring of 2022, Pongo began mentoring poetry with young people at the Echo Glen Children's Center, a juvenile institution for youth serving criminal sentences. Studies of incarcerated youth indicate that up to 70% suffer from a mental health disorder and that many have experienced childhood trauma. The isolation, economic upheaval, and turmoil of the last two years have only exacerbated this issue. Youth at Echo Glen have endured significant mental and emotional challenges in the last two years, including increased rates of depression, anxiety, sleep issues, and behavioral challenges.
Pongo believes there is power in creative expression, and articulating one's pain to an empathetic audience. Through this special monthly column in partnership with the South Seattle Emerald, Pongo invites readers to bear witness to the pain, resilience, and creative capacity of youth whose voices and perspectives are too often relegated to the periphery. To partner with Pongo in inspiring healing and relief in youth coping with mental and emotional turmoil,join the Pongo Poetry Circle today.
by a young person at the Echo Glen Children's Center
I hope
The end of every year will be followed by another breath with no tears to shed
I hope
The weakest dog will find a home and someone to love him like he's the best dog
I hope
The fiercest storms will only bring physical damage,
but it's up to me to keep my mentality straight
I hope
Every empty room will eventually have a person in it who didn't have nowhere to go before
I hope
Gunfire in the distance is just fireworks but sometimes it's just hope
I hope
When life passes you have to remember the good memories you've had
I hope
The angriest person in me will learn that anger's not always the key
I hope
The loneliest person in me will discover people aren't everything and lonely is comfortable
I hope
The most lighthearted person in me will hope that everybody's treated equally
I hope
That all children experience more justice in the world,
in the form of more help to get food in their stomachs and make better choices
I hope
That I can create more justice in the world,
by setting a good example and helping people who need it.
by a young person at the Echo Glen Children's Center
So much blood from all the backstabbing
So much trust issues
Can't trust my family
I just want to feel what love feels like
Feels like asking God
"What did I do?"
To disappoint my family
I'm trying to make it out the streets
But like a cold it keeps coming back
I wish I could take back
All the lost time with my mom
But I'll never get it back
Sitting in my cell
Thinking about all the lost memories
That I'm never getting back
I wish I knew how it feels to get hugged by a girl
That'll never leave
She said she'll never leave but left over the phone
I can't look my family in the eye
Seeing all the guilt and all the disappointment
I've caused them in life
Since I've been gone
I hope you've been doing better
by a young person at the Echo Glen Children's Center
Kind of just want to talk about life
The place where I am at
It's not what I like but
I have to live with what I got
I made mistakes
But it doesn't define who I am
I'm not like a bad person, like the judge said
I just have some things sometimes,
I made mistakes
My Mom always told me to not hang with them
But I didn't have a choice, cause that's where I grew up at
I put her through so much pain
I feel like, I owe the whole world to her
I wasn't a good influence for my little brother
But I always made sure he was safe
I was my own big brother, so I didn't know
Just trying to make money for my family
It wasn't clean money but it still put food on the plate
📸 Featured image by 周杰意 Jieyi Zhou.
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