Pursuing Environmentalism  

When my parents immigrated to the States, they exchanged vast mountains and riverbanks for gray cities and crumbling concrete streets. I was raised in The Bronx, New York, and always longed for something more. Greenery in my neighborhood was nonexistent- limited to small parks or a few trees lining the sidewalks. My siblings and I never truly experienced nature or wilderness.  

In college, I studied environmental policy and science to regain that connection to Earth. Studying with CEA CAPA in Sydney, Australia, brought me closer to this goal. Experiencing the environment abroad led to my short poetry collection, Parks and Recreations. 

Hobart, Australia - Mt. Wellington Overlook

Science First, Writing Second 

I've been writing since childhood, clicking and clacking away on old computers and janky keyboards. I always knew the perfect sentence to capture any moment. But after years of school, that joy began to fade. Reading endless scientific journals and writing my own became exhausting. Although I still loved writing, my creativity burnt off. I remained a writer, but I had to be a scientist in school first. 

Then came CEA CAPA, which opened the literary floodgates for me. While studying abroad in Sydney, I set a personal challenge: writing a poem daily. Well, I failed! But I did end up writing dozens of my favorite and best works. Writing abroad allowed me to reflect on my identity and take back simple joys. 

Parks and Recreations 

In Australia, environmentalism was everywhere. From the Great Barrier Reef to the smaller parks scattered throughout, I witnessed a coexistence with the land. This inspired my second challenge: visit a new park or natural site and write a poem about it. This became the foundation for Parks and Recreations.  

Each poem began with the same opening stanza: “Today is day _, and a park is _.” With this challenge in mind, I backpacked across the entire continent, seeking out new places and writing about them. In my travels, I found heartbreak, love, and resilience. I became the writer the child in me dreamed of! I humbly present to you a few of my works and I hope it inspires you to embrace your passions wherever you go. 

DAY 12 

Day twelve and a park is a beach 

And the world is an ocean 

Engulfing hundreds of suitors 

Drawn into round hips  

And supple lips 

-Sirens-  

Blaring into the red land 

Burning men seek reprieve 

In the world’s gentle showers. 

God’s descendants so keen 

To meet their forebears 

Play on treacherous waves. 

And us, the marooned romantics,  

Watch them live, if even briefly 

While we soak up little shade and air  

So, we too can escape the sun’s lure  

Into maternal baths and shallow tides. 

Swells rise and ravage up 

 The golden bodies 

Poised for their drift  

To the afterlife.   

Author’s Note: Written at the iconic Bondi Beach, a place known worldwide. The beach culture is important to the Aussies, but as an inner-city kid who can’t swim, I didn’t love it. So, I watched the locals play in their homes, not entirely used to the landscape. 

Sydney, Australia - Bondi Beach

DAY 15 

Day fifteen and a park is an open door, 

A home with no latch  

To block out US: 

The nightcrawlers, day drinkers, 

Loveful couples on a stroll or siesta. 

We enter at our own pace 

To stay or go, 

When and where fan-out  

Under windy canopies. 

No gates, metal barriers,  

No, this is not a club, 

We are not day pass holders. 

Let’s convene at sundown’s resort: 

Down a path so freely 

Stretching grass and breeze. 

No, not a club, but 

Home to critters and anthills 

Thriving under communal dirt 

Let’s greet them 

In there, our, your home. 

Author’s Note: Written at Bardon Park near Coogee Beach, I stumbled upon this small park close to a golf club. Unlike exclusive clubs, parks are public spaces where everyone is welcome. I appreciated these open spaces even more because everyone and thing are equal. 

Sydney, Australia - Bardon Park

‘THE’ PIANIST 

 On the cusp of rosemary scares 

On the edge of Asbury Park 

Counting the edges of pines 

And vastness between global seas. 

How sad I never could see  

The great ocean at night. 

We flew for fourteen hours,  

Lost seventeen, 

A day lost, two gained. 

I was a time traveler and pioneer  

Uncovering your settled isthmus. 

I awkwardly pushed daisies  

Into the indents  

Of soft thumbs and red ink, 

Excited to leave my mark  

On your horizons. 

No other home quite like yours: 

Cold, tall, and dreamy 

I never wanted to leave. 

Mountains by the jetty 

Inspired a thousand soliloquies, 

And you found the perfect pitch,  

A new composition.  

You were the cleverest, wittiest 

To catch my least funny jabs 

Like yellow, fleeting. 

Like us, 

Too rushed.  

Author’s Note: Written after returning to New York, this is a love letter to Hobart, Tasmania—the last city I backpacked to and loved the most. It was also where I met someone, and though our time together was brief, it left a lasting impact. This letter is for him, too. 

Hobart, Australia - Mt. Wellington Summit

EPILOGUE: THE DREAM MAN 

It was not what I imagined 

Bent on fantasy and dreams, 

Fickle hopes for men, but 

Never the man I become 

That’s what I became 

My dream man: 

A traveler 

Bold and well-spirited, 

Spirited away into the arms and 

Bites of some sea-traced bodies, 

Crashing into some men, too, 

Adoring this pop-culture conduit. 

Polarizing to the far leftists, 

Amusing, nonetheless. 

And there was a pianist I fancied 

And maybe in a few years, I’ll be 25 

And him a grand opera opener waiting  

For me to open him up again. 

But, to that original point, 

I found a man: 

Who I love, who I envy, 

Desire and wish to slip into, 

When I look back, I remember: 

I am that man 

To be every day  

Of my life. 

Author’s Note: This poem responds to the first I wrote the night before I left the States. I was nervous and excited, not sure what to expect. Everyone I knew told me they had found love in Australia, so part of me hoped I might experience a bit of romance too. In a way, I did. 

Sydney, Australia - Wildlife Zoo