• things to remember (as a brown girl)

    one white girl is worth a thousand brown girls.  don’t be mad when someone says chai tea latte because the milky, watered down brown liquid with a green logo is nothing compared to the hot tea your dad makes for you when you’re studying.  find your people in every crowd…

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  • second skin

    she pulled the second skin over my hair,  static causing it to frizz up.  i pulled and tugged and shouted,  but her arms were stronger than mine.  a second layer of fleece  over my legs and my prepubescent body eventually, the layers morphed into my skin till i’m indistinguishable from…

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  • mothers in the kitchen

    the counter is unsurprisingly cold. i jump and sit on top of it, ignoring the obvious silent protests from my mom’s eyes as i plant myself next to the chopped onions and carrots that are messily placed on a plate next to me. something is brewing on the stove. something…

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  • “smoking kills”

    It was dark and cold and raining.  The two strangers waiting at the bus stop knew that they were in for the long haul. The bus was never on time so the weather only made the delay longer. One of them sat down on the broken bench and dug through…

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  • The American Dream

    in the beginning  “i want to move to america.” the first words of her american dream baby.  the start to a long, winding road with ups and downs that led to the golden arches of clean air, greasy diner food and capitalism. the words written by a young woman who…

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Zoya Abbas

Lexington Youth Poet Laureate

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