A hero is someone who stands up for
what they believe in and fights for what is right.
Some powerful heroes in the world that I know about,

heard about, or learned about in school are
Gandhi, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr.,
Harriet Tubman, and Rosa Parks.

These are people who fought for what was right,
even when all odds were against them.
I think that defines a true hero.

I think of these people as heroes,
but none of them has had a direct impact on my life.
They weren’t there to stop me from crying

When I fell off my bike and scraped my knee.
They weren’t there to console me each time I
woke up in a cold sweat because someone was after me

and they surely don’t make sure that I
eat everyday and never go hungry and
that I always have clothes on my back.

There’s just one person
who does all of this for me
and he is my true hero.

he is my dad.

– Chea Sayon

From a WritersCorps publication at Mercy Housing California, and from “Tell the World,” published by HarperCollins.

Poem of the Month: January 2008

I would save the kids with cancer because they want to be happy
and other kids don’t have it. My second wish would be that no one
would hit me or boss me around at school. My third wish is that I
could buy my mom a car and a big house. My next wish is that
everybody will be nice to me. My fifth wish would be to be a president
to make the state better and smarter. My sixth wish will be that nobody
will say cuss words. My seventh wish will be that schools will get more
technology and make the kids smarter. My last wish is that on the 4th of July
everyone would pop firecrackers and dance in the windows.
I want everyone to be happy and not demean
and for gas prices to go low.

– Tino Guadamuz, 10

From the WritersCorps book “Race Car, Yellow Star” at Mercy Services
Poem of the Month: December 2006