THE MENTOR (Poem)

Much peace. For Day 3 of National Poetry Writing Month, the prompt is:

Today, we challenge you to write a poem in which a profession or vocation is described differently than it typically is considered to be. Perhaps your poem will feature a very relaxed brain surgeon, or a farmer that hates vegetables. Or maybe you have a poetical alter-ego of your own, who flies a non-wan, treasure-hunting flag with pride.

Here is my poem:

THE MENTOR

By Farah Lawal Harris, 2026

You’d think there’d be

chunks of white chalk

up under my nails by now,

but wow, it’s brown soil.

But I don’t break my back no more—

nah, nah, I bend with my knees

to plant these seeds.

Sometimes I get blessed enough

to still be around to watch them

grow and reach toward the sun.

Heartbreak taught me to practice

the Law of Detachment,

to not place all my hopes of harvest

in one basket,

and to always, always

save some of me for me

and my own precious seed,

to feverishly resist the role of Mammy—

Ms. Farah is more than enough.

“I am more than enough.”

Self-love and preservation

is necessary modeling

for the brilliant, young saplings

God places before me.

Trees are always watching, you know.

I remind my ego that

I am not the answer,

but merely a mirror,

reflecting back the delicious fruit

of the future.