RAGE

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Our rage is real. On April 18th, Andover’s writer-in-residence Mr. Linmark facilitated the ArtRage Writing Workshop, inviting expressions of feelings and thoughts by AAPI students in response to contemporary and historical violence, bigotry, and racism. Participants created the ArtRage Renga: a collaborative haiku currently on display in the OWHL!

 

Renga is an ancient Japanese poetic form comprised of haikus alternating with a couplet. Traditionally, a haiku is a three-line poem of 5-7-5 syllables, followed by a two-line stanza of 7-7 syllables. For this ArtRage poetry project, however, we also played with and bent the rules to amplify our words on the page.

 

Visit the display and send us a comment or a new verse to add!

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ArtRage: a Renga

 

1.Soph Ma, Senior

Abominable

When “bad days” pardon murder,

Our fury waves break loud.

 

2.Harry Chanpaiboonrat, Senior

When their hatred fails to budge,

A nudge is no longer enough

 

3.David Zhu, Senior

Paper Sons bearing

Bullet wounds and silent scars.

Paper, stained yellow.

 

4.Izzy Torio, Senior

Suppressed, where does the pain go

We’re buried before we live.

 

5.Victor Malzahn, Senior
they ask my mother

are you the cleaning lady—

No, this is my home.

 

6. Soph Ma, Senior

Stay home. Hide your face. Not safe.

I caution my grandmother.

 

7.Amy Jiang, Senior

my warm embrace

through your worn smudged screen

you’re not alone.

 

8.Amelia Cheng,. Senior

In Spring, blooming cherry blossoms

For willing hearts to mend.

 

9.Clara Tu, Senior

Flowing river, we

Meander through paths until

Waves break upon shore.

 

 

10.Soph Ma, Senior

Riddled with holes, news-

paper’s edges.

 

11. Izzy Torio, Senior

heads turn: know your place

blood spills, cries pierce the laughter

silence falls, always

 

12. Sarah Pan, Junior

But you were raised that way

Your failure are rebellion

 

13. Amelia Cheng, Senior

My waipo’s shoulders

Sink in silent weight, falling

Skin: dried, forsaken.

 

14. Clara Tu, Senior

Weapon of mass destruction

Essence invented of us.

 

15. Zoe Yu, Lower

Triangulated

To the corner pinned so tightly,

Struggling to break free.

 

16. Rhine Peng, Junior

Should I be ashamed of what

My parents could not become?

 

17. Sarah Pan, Junior

Hatred stirs the pot

What once hid at the bottom

Right up to the top

 

18. Eleanor Tong, Junior

An entire generation

Traumatized again by hate.

 

19. Soph Ma, Senior

Rose-colored glasses turn clear.

We aren’t safe.

Have never been.

 

 

20. Zoe Yu, Lower

Glossing over our merits

Like they’re matter of fact.

 

21. Eleanor Tong, Junior

Hear it constantly,

More excuses excuses

Justify our pain.

 

22. Clara Tu, Senior

Weapons of mass destruction

Cut from the same name.

 

 

23. Rhine Peng, Junior

Blamed for pestilence

Virus of baseless hate

Doubly infectious.

 

24. Eleanor Tong, Junior

How these hate-filled demons chase us—

Do they even understand?

 

25. Clara Tu, Senior

“Power in silence”

Berated by those whose homes

Lay over our shards.

 

26. Sarah Pan, Junior

You aren’t like the others

Buttercream in a yellow shell

 

27. Eleanor Tong, Junior

When people dare try

To say “it was a bad day for him”

For him? What about us—gaping wound?

 

 

28. Soph Ma, Senior

Caution: Quiet

Storms rising to the surface.

 

29. Izzy Torio, Senior

We’re the joke

Until blood pierces the laughter

Silence falls, always.

 

30. Elizabeth Chou, Upper

you can’t seem to hear, see me.

you can’t seem to meet my gaze

31. Isabel Chin, Senior

another morning

rays of yellow sun belong to us

in their strength lies tomorrow’s breath.

 

 

32. Alex Park, Senior

Inalienable lives,

Small stones are cut from big stones.

 

 

33. Emma Fu, Senior

In a garden

All yearning for the same sky

Colors that never blend.

 

 

 

34. Ethan Chan, Senior

Shame no longer about skin—

silence exploding.

 

 

35. Emma Fu, Senior

Sometimes I wonder:

when did you start telling me

to take the easier path.

 

 

36. Isabel Chin, Senior

our pounding heartaches hold hands

hope out for tomorrow.

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