Poetry Power: “Mashed Potatoes”

Heading into the last month of school, The Olympian is excited to publish freshman Kayden Shih’s poem “Mashed Potatoes.” “In my English class, we learned about how Shakespeare wrote his pieces, and we ended up trying to write some ourselves,” Shih said. “My sonnet was originally going to be about a warm bowl of rice, but I noticed that the lines I had created seemed more similar to characteristics of mashed potatoes than rice, so I just went with it.”

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Mashed Potatoes

Shall I compare thee to my soft pillow?

Thou shall not compare to steaming white grains.

Thy whispy white peaks fall like marshmallow

Into thy mixer of squashing and pains.

Thine brown flesh encrusted with of dirt and grime,

your eyes forever growing you a new life.

Plucked from thine skin, buried for some time,

your future grows strong of toughness and rife.

Your creamy billows fall from up above,

Into the darkness of acid thy drowns.

The life thou gives me, makes you my first love,

I long for more of you, oh skin so brown.

Thou travels through me, your flavor upholds,

Still longing for you, those soft creamy folds.