My smile, loved by many, hated by some
But yet it still stays, even if pain comes
The tears that shed, one by one
Can never wipe my smile, it’ll shine bright like the sun.
Through the hardship and denial, the error and trial
My heart hurts for a while, but I’ll keep it locked and boxed like a tile
See this frustration has been building for a while and I can honestly say that when I smile, I feel the opposite of riled
See when I smile, I’m like a bicycle
I’m tryna hide the fact that I’m too(two) tired. I would call it quits but, nah that’s not how I’m wired. Nah I’m not a tough guy, I just hope to be admired. So ima walk with my head high and like Chaka Khan, Ima walk through that fire.
See I’m not perfect, I just hope to make others aspire. To be better than the situations that may have transpired. See the time for silence has definitely expired. I’m here to make a change and leave these tired thoughts retired.
I’m a genuine article, you can’t fake what I’ve done. I’ve seen some brutal things that’s happened way more than once. But It can’t be the end, man my story just begun. So I’ll be dammed if I let it be taken away by a gun.
I tend to rise above hate, Yea I ignore the pain. But yet y’all can’t understand, you think you lose and they gain, but yet you playing they game, where everyone is the same, yall got the weapons and tools but yet yall don’t got the aim. You see somebody ELSE shine now you say that they lame. But you say IM outta pocket here you go here’s some change.
I promise we not the same, my words they hit cuz they strong, the world is all in my palm, they panic, I remain calm. Even if you in the back, my word is louder than a bomb.
Isaiah Allen
Artist Statement
Much like in Isaiah Allen’s poem, the words are layered, letting emotion guide the structure. Each shift in scale and spacing reflects the tension between joy and pain, capturing the quiet strength of a smile that, despite hardship, refuses to fade.
Young Chicago Authors
Young Chicago Authors offers high-quality programs that nurture artistic development, social-emotional learning, and academic success through poetry and performance. Its Rooted & Radical Youth Poetry Festival is the largest of its kind in the world, gathering over 200 youth poets from across Chicago, Chicago-land, and Northwest Indiana. The festival centers storytelling over competition and fosters listening, empathy, and creative risk. The ten poets featured here advanced through the 2025 festival and offered lines that were impossible to ignore.
Poetry Foundation
This program is made possible with support from the Poetry Foundation, which amplifies poetry and celebrates poets by fostering spaces for all to create, experience, and share poetry.
