yellow

I am fifteen, Asian, born in Rochester, New York.
Born in a household with three siblings and a single parent.
I wonder if it's that simple?

In a home with holes in the walls and cracks in the tiles,
all one witnessed was myself and my Irish twin brother
jumping off beds, stairs, and our two story home.

Mother finished high school but never went to college.
The sister who went to college dropped out,
and the other dropped out of high school.
My father, to make it better, dropped out in fourth grade.
I wonder if it's that simple?
Growing up in a household, being Asian.

Awards, report cards, and expectations fall on me
as my brother sits on his homework
while playing games on his PlayStation3.
Drained from my hobbies,
there's less time in the day to relax.

My world is in my phone,
much like my family whose eyes
look at screens more than each other.
It's the only way to burn time,
exhausted from work and school
in order to go back and repeat the process again.

The tiles are still cracked.
My three dogs make new holes in the walls.
The life that ever breathes from my home
is that of the characters on the screen,
both ones with voices and letters on keyboards.