Pongo Poetry Project’s mission is to engage youth in writing poetry to inspire healing and growth. In the spring of 2022, Pongo began mentoring poetry with young people at the Echo Glen Children’s Center, a juvenile institution for youth serving criminal sentences. Studies of incarcerated youth indicate that up to 70% suffer from a mental health disorder and that many have experienced childhood trauma. The isolation, economic upheaval, and turmoil of the last two years have only exacerbated this issue. Youth at Echo Glen have endured significant mental and emotional challenges in the last two years, including increased rates of depression, anxiety, sleep issues, and behavioral challenges.
Pongo believes there is power in creative expression, and articulating one’s pain to an empathetic audience. Through this special monthly column in partnership with the South Seattle Emerald, Pongo invites readers to bear witness to the pain, resilience, and creative capacity of youth whose voices and perspectives are too often relegated to the periphery. To partner with Pongo in inspiring healing and relief in youth coping with mental and emotional turmoil, join Pongo’s certification pilot program this spring.
Last Experiences
by a young person at the Echo Glen Children’s Center
The first step can be the longest
When you want to wanna try to do good
You don’t know how to start that road
You’d think about what you wanna do good for
The first step can be the most challenging
When you fear how it could go
Thinking about all the people that wanna see you down
It makes you wanna be on top the most
The first step can be the hardest
When you fight against yourself
That’s your hardest opponent
Constantly fighting in your mind
The first step is often the loneliest
When you don’t know if you got somebody down for the ride
Sometimes you take steps by yourself
Others might not keep up to the way you step
The first step can be an opening
Where the possibilities include a better way of living
A new start with your family
But sometimes a new start isn’t always good
The first step can be an ending
When you think you will lose all your old relationships
Abandonment is the worst
And that’s what I fear the most
Looking at the Past Through the Future
by a young person at the Echo Glen Children’s Center
As I grew older, life was like riding in a car with trees rushing by.
There was so much to see like burnt down buildings
Life rushed by far too quickly and before I knew it,
I had left places behind like old friends
There are people I wish I could see again like my grandpa
When I think of them, I miss his cooking
There are some things I don’t miss.
It’s hard to think about the “lifestyle”
Looking out the window,
I think about where I’m headed.
I wonder if I can achieve my goals like graduating high school
I wonder what obstacles there might be along the way—like bumpy roads
Looking out the window while driving,
though my past is along for the ride,
there’s also my destination,
my future where I can achieve my future goals.
First Steps
by a young person at the Echo Glen Children’s Center
The first step can be the longest
When you want to turn your life around for family and friends
The first step can be the most challenging
When you fear coming back to my old lifestyle and being around bad influences
The first step can be the hardest
When you fight against the urge to not do wrong — the desire to take the easy way out
The first step is often the loneliest
When you don’t know if you will give up
The first step can be an opening
Where the possibilities include a better lifestyle, more opportunities
The first step can be an ending
When you think you will lose everything you have worked for if you mess up
The first step can be a thrill
When you experience independence —
like doing things for yourself and not depending on others
The first step can be a joy
When you celebrate sobriety and a new life on your own.
📸 Featured Image: Illustration by Alexa Strabuk 譚文曠.
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