“Me” by Ja’Lantea Johnson

Ja’Lantea Johnson (age 5)

ME

This new year
I will still be 5.

A 5-year-old knows his letters.

This new day
I wish I had a new name.
I wish my new name was J-money.

If my name was J-money
I would play with dollars.

I would play with my brother
outside in a field
and tell his friends that I got a new name.

This new day,
goodbye.

Goodbye, Mommy.
Goodbye, Daddy.
Hello, Brother.

from 2018 Rattle Young Poets Anthology

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__________

Why do you like to write poetry?

Ja’Lantea Johnson: “Because you can think of stuff you did and put it in a book.”

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