Runner-Up in Poetry at the 2025 contest: Our Own World
M. Tan
We built our world on Pharaoh's Sand
Where dust and ash let buildings stand
The plagues return with different names
Yet the kings refuse to change
Rivers run with Midas’s gold
Reflections show truths: bloody, cold
Our shores are drowned in flood and flame
Earth’s rising with someone to blame
The garden blooms with snakes and fire
The once bountiful Eden alit with hollow desire
From disillusioned minds a green light dims
Our hope and valor lost in the wind
Yet still the rich dine with gold plated sheets
Their hearts and hands filled with intent to deceive
Promises made, the lies are told
Poison rains as death takes hold.
The air once pure, now thickened with lies
Burdened like Sodom under the darkened skies
Cries and howls fill the streets
Fireworks or gunshots—history repeats
Justice is a lie we are forced to believe
Greed is humanity’s greatest disease
We are the Sons and Daughters of Cain
Living in our world of ruin and shame
Hi! My name is Minna and I wrote this piece to look into how our world has changed. In short, it has not changed much in terms of morality or accountability. The poem delves into many problems that seem to be prevalent in our society, greed, fickleness and so on. I connected this to the theme "Our Own World" because this is the world that we built, hence the title. We have to become accountable for what the world has become and do our due diligence to help fix our society. My favorite part of the poem is the stanza with the garden of eden because I was really proud of myself for incorporating something from the Great Gatsby.