A LITERARY JOURNAL PUBLISHING STANDOUT TEEN WRITERS AGES 13-19
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Flavorless
by Lyat Melese (US)
August 2022
Audio: "Flavorless," read by Lyat Melese
Aunty’s green card was approved
lucky she says
right before they tightened
immigration
and the world became a paper map
with a hand clamping the oceans
paper crumpling and
colorful blobs of land
choked apart
Aunty works at a chicken processing plant
now
no english, they say, plus free transportation
two hour rides
with other elderly ladies
who fill time with murmurs
of broken english and native tongue
they will enter the place
machine loud yet silent
to skin chicken and pull innards
returning to
free transportation
with swollen feet
Is anything free?
My mother fries chicken for dinner
says she hasn’t seen real chicken in America
real chicken needs
just salt to dance on tongues
This chicken, here,
flavorless
she dumps soy sauce in the pan
Lyat Melese, 17, is a high school student currently residing in Virginia. If she’s not writing, she can be found working on her neurobiology project, reading African literature, or having fun with her friends. Her pieces have appeared or are forthcoming in "The New York Times," "Scholastic Art and Writing," "Elementia," and elsewhere.
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Vee
3/9/24, 12:43 AM
This was absolutely a good read! 😃
Ushing Mya
11/24/23, 4:42 PM
I'm amazed by your deep perception towards little things of life! Keep glowing dear Taieba.
Fatima Ismail
10/4/23, 10:28 AM
I'll like to see more of your writing
Fatima Ismail
10/4/23, 10:26 AM
Gsk I love it!
dont care
10/3/23, 7:58 PM
womp womp
Andrea
9/29/23, 2:03 AM
Andrea
9/29/23, 2:03 AM
Wow..just wow. Ridiculous words I know. I just stumbled across your poem as this is my first time on the website and I landed this masterpiece. As an immigrant myself, I could relate to several aspects of this. Your use of imagery, symbolism, and allusion is outstanding
Lola
9/17/23, 8:43 AM
Powerful. Spreading the truth some don't think about, some don't have to worry about. A great and strong piece.
9/16/23, 2:41 AM
9/16/23, 2:41 AM
9/16/23, 2:41 AM
Aisha Yaakub
8/25/23, 10:35 PM
Excellent and amazing