THEME FOR ENGLISH B

Students read THEME FOR ENGLISH B by Langston Hughes http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~keith/poems/English_B.html

Among the poems generated by Theme for English B is the following:

THEME FOR MULTI-CULTURAL LITERATURE CLASS by Shuen Wong

Sometimes I ask myself
"Who are you?
A name, a body, a spirit?"
Then I am confused.

I am nineteen years old, Chinese,
born in a small mountain village in South China.
My blissful childhood was there, close to nature.
I was only me, artless and carefree,
like an elf of the mountain.
In the morning, mist arose from the forest
like soft, light gauze.
In the evening, a cool mountain wind blew
through the forest
lulling me into sweet dreams.

Now here I am, a New Yorker,
in this motley land of skyscraping pressures.
I study hard in school to keep up
the Chinese reputation
of diligence and intelligence.
I am confined to school and home
like a caged nightingale.

The tall buildings sorrund me.
Subways and TV's make me dizzy.
I miss the old trees and the mountain,
the wind, the mist, and me.