It's me, my accent and my height
against the world.

You see, I have always been a little bit
louder,
a little bit taller,
a little bit too much for
the quiet classroom corners
and the short row seats.
Teachers would call me out,
could you take it down a notch?
And I would nod,
but my voice would keep climbing mountains,
my feet still stretching to touch the stars.

I come from a place
where the sound of my family echoes
in the cadence of my speech,
a melody of heritage laced in every sentence.
My...