Susie (Dailan) Xu ’23 recently published a poem on Teen Ink, a website and magazine of teens’ art and writing. “Listen to Me, My Child” is a free-verse letter to Xu’s younger self. 

“I got the inspiration when examining a picture of the five-year-old me,” said Xu on the Teen Ink website. “I want her to grow mature to be ready to face the complex world, but in another sense, I appreciate and cherish the colorful imagination and innocence of my childhood.”

Read the poem.