Each day this week, KCRW is spotlighting the homegrown budding talent sourced via the Young Creators Project, a community arts mentorship platform celebrating the creative work of SoCal residents under 21.
Jacqueline Chow, 11, is an avid reader and huge fan of bugs. The future entomologist also writes poems of all kinds, all the time. When not engaged in one of these hobbies, Chow enjoys playing board/word games and soccer, and raising awareness about the plight of animals like the vaquita (a porpoise species that is near extinction, with only nine left in the world).
Ode to the ground
By: Jacqueline Chow
You hold me up so I stand tall
You try not to, let me fall
You support me everywhere I go
And everywhere I go, I know That you'll always be there for me
You catch me when I stumble and trip
You hold me tight in your powerful grip
You let my shoes tread on your head
With no complaint, to be said
Even if I run and jump
You move me along, sprinting fast
You help me go, others past
My pounding feet meet you every step I take
You try not to let yourself quake
Though sometimes you can't control the urge
You allow the bugs to make their home
In you... and me to comb
Through all the grass and dirt and rocks
And all the tiny burrows, locks
To find the bugs and hold them
You welcome sunshine, welcome it in
And store it like a storage bin
You soak up the sun that makes you hot
And let me lie there, though I ought
To be practicing cello
Without you, everyone would be
Floating in the watery sea
Or floating up, in the air
Or the core of the Earth... it's hot in there,
Hotter than the surface of the sun
I love you , love you!
You're the best Better than bugs (1 must confess)
I owe my life as I know it to you
And I'm thankful for all the things you do
For me.
Thank you ground!
More:
Young Creator’s Project - Music
Young Creators Spotlight: Taty
Young Creators Spotlight: Ruler of Program
Young Creators Spotlight: Ras
Young Creators Spotlight: Magnus Ferrell