Poetry Power: “My Sandwich”

The Olympian is excited to start off this week with a poem by junior Sofia Antonia Ortiz, titled “My Sandwich.” “It is about the universal racial experience that comes with eating lunch,” she said.

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My Sandwich

Anong mali sa sandwich ko

Early before school mother makes my lunch

Chopping, dicing, adding, stirring

Beating the sun to its position, working in the light of the moon

Taking and creating aromas from a homeland far from this one my bed lays to rest

Packed in a cool-whip container, I am greeted with comfort 

The lunch bell rings and I find my place in the hundreds

Surrounded by those whose parents pack them jelly sandwiches and carrot sticks

I open my bag releasing the sour smell of my food

The smell ripples through the air causing the sandwich kids to repel and hurl

They laugh, they point, they stare, they tease

Red stains my face in embarrassment and shame

Mocks and insults drown out the noise of the pale masses

And once again I am left wondering

Anong mali sa sandwich ko

What is wrong with my sandwich?