my house sat
lost in sight between
the palm trees
planted by mother
in her mid-thirties
I was like my father
venturing to lands without moving a muscle
each page was a new journey
to a strange land
I was sly
wondering
if I was who I am
or if I was who I wanted to be
I was like other boys
trapped in a world
where the sun
like a hummingbird
rises and floats away
I learn the faces of numbers
bodies to explore and tuck
I am an archaeologist
I dig and reason and find
history in whatever the earth
has swallowed
but one day a girl stands outside
of my house a blooming hibiscus
standing in the rain removing glasses
from my eyes
I can still see it
underneath the palm tree
I changed
not even the palm tree noticed
Jaewon Chang is a high school sophomore in the Philippines. He enjoys solving math problems and traveling the city on foot. His lifetime goal is to meet mathematicians and poets.