These poems are published connected to a project supported by the DC Mayor’s Office of Community Affairs. Achyuth Sarath was a participant in Day Eight’s 2026 AAPI reading and craft workshop supported by the grant.

It should be simple:
പ്പഴം.
One of our favorite fruits,
an excellent source of potassium.
But my “r” sounds white instead of brown.
Hilarious to the looming figures around me,
like a circus animal forced to do tricks.
Embarrassing.

They knew what I meant,
and now, what I am not:
one of them.
To my parents, this is home—
the soil of my ancestors.
Yet here, the food of the gods feels like a shameful word when I speak it.

Strange noises come from my mouth.
I am a creature from the white man’s land.
I speak a script gilded in the dollar.
I see my people, but I know that they are not mine.
In Lake Zurich, I am an outsider.
In Ottapallam, I am an outsider.
Where am I enough?

​​Achyuth Sarath is a senior at American University in Washington, D.C., studying Political Science and Communications, Legal Institutions, Economics, and Government (CLEG). He was born in Illinois but currently lives in Texas and is the son of two immigrants from South India. He writes poetry in his free time.

Featured image of Bananas by Wilfredor, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons