​Teen Sequins 2022: Yechan (Chloe) Lee, Age 14 

A Sound Only Heard in Crowds
​
I like the sound of my own laughter, my own screams,
My own shouts alongside that of a crowd’s
As we dance via vapors of mindscapes,
Time’s jostle between us in loyal

Following of the here, now—not when—of flow.
To be so unafraid, unhindered, a billowing
Mass of opportunity not curtailed by perfection,
Not hearing you rip my paper trail of wanderings,

Telling me the hard-edge-certainty of news,
Shoving me into societal greed fervently
For constraint, for heartless murmurs, for
A change in a smile that isn’t my own,

A change for a cause that lingers alone.
I can now see bones a part of me,
Flaunting a body set to be seen,
One ligament stretching thin,

A tightening of wounds we carry
Together in this grave of expectation.
One there, one where my heart has left tears,
For my hair is piling like commands,

My face painted and rising like oil,
But they praise me for what may be hung
On the front of their screens to shine.
That’s not enough to quiet the temptations

Of telling me what to do for you--
Nothing I do can be enough for you.
You drag this void out like the gap
Of a widening smile, and we all
​
Smile and laugh and scream
Out crushed hopes and taut hearts
And that sadly is a truth only heard
In the crowds that dance.
​

Chloe Lee is a rising freshman attending an international school in Korea. Over the past 6 years she
has traveled and lived in different places throughout the world. Most of her poetry is based on
her experiences adapting to new places: the people, their fixations, the expectations that
follow an individual's every move. Because she feels strongest in essay writing, she
finds herself writing poetry about what is in front of her, things that tend to
​reveal deeper truths about herself and what she perceives.