PONGO POETRY | The Voice of My Father

by a young person at CCFJC

He’s less understanding
Sometimes I feel like he don’t understand me
He listens
But the way he comes off is different
His demeanor
He’s cold blooded
His voice is like thunder
Sometimes when he talks
Sometimes when he says things
It hurts
Like a nagging itch
I wish that I could change his anger
I wish I could change the fact that he lost his mom
I wish that he didn’t have to feel pain
I wish that he was there when he wasn’t
I don’t blame him
But it does hurt

by a young person at CCFJC

I hate it here
The food here sucks
The showers are cold
I wish I could start over
I would stop hanging around bad influences
I would graduate from school
I would get my GED
That would help me get a job
I want to have family and do real estate
I want to have two houses
One to live in and one for investment
My Grandmother is supportive
and she pushes me to be a better person
My Grandmother is loving and caring
She wants me to graduate
Stop making bad decisions
that could lead to jail
My older brothers want me to make better choices
I want to be responsible
Do what I’m supposed to do
That means when it’s time to go to school
Go to school
When it’s time to go to work
Go to work
I don’t want to make the same mistakes
That landed me here

by a young person at CCFJC

Past my own knowing here
I don’t know
I don’t even know what’s happening with my case
I hate these four walls
I hate walking down the empty halls
Lonely
My dog is lonely
He walks around looking for me
Sitting by the door
Laying there
If it’s not me,
you have to push him
because he
Just
Won’t
Leave
I hate this blue jumpsuit
I hate the feeling of waking up to the same day
A nightmare
It just happens again and again and again
It’s the same day
Every
Single
Day
Exhausted
I feel like the aftermath of a tsunami
Nothing’s left
Everything is broken
Destruction
Mental destruction
Frustration
Kind of like all the feelings that you feel
I want to break down my walls
To the beat of my heart
The rhythm
If you look in my eyes
You can see what I’ve been through
But that’s not something that you want to climb into
Lost
My mind wandering through a dark cave
Everything that goes on in here makes me go so crazy
Hidden inside
Hidden inside of me
So you won’t see all of my emotions
These are some of the feelings
That will be caged until I’m free

Pongo Poetry Project's mission is to engage youth in writing poetry to inspire healing and growth. For over 20 years, Pongo has mentored poetry with youth at the Clark Children & Family Justice Center (CCFJC), King County's juvenile detention facility.

Many CCFJC residents are youth of color who have endured traumatic experiences in the form of abuse, neglect, and exposure to violence. These incidents have been caused and exacerbated by community disinvestment, systemic racism, and other forms of institutional oppression. In collaboration with CCFJC staff, Pongo poetry writing offers CCFJC youth a vehicle for self-discovery and creative expression that inspires recovery and healing.

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 among youth coping with mental and emotional turmoil, learn more about serving as a volunteer youth poetry mentor and apply here.