I Listen by Janet Wong

Once in a while
I wake up in the dark
and I look around my room.
I listen to the sounds in my house-
the refrigerator humming,
the heater clanking,
Mommy's soft breathing,
Daddy’s noisy snores.

My own breath
make the sound of the water in a puddle
on a warm but windy day-

woosh and shush and
woosh and shush and-

then
I fall back asleep.

Janet Wong graduated from Yale Law School but found her true calling to be in writing, publishing and sharing poetry with children. In 2021, she became the first Asian American writer to be awarded the NCTE Excellence in Poetry for Children Award, the most prestigious lifetime achievement award that a children’s poet can receive.

Ms. Wong writes poems to be spoken and poems to be shared, poems about feelings and poems about happenings, poems that might challenge you and poems that might bring you comfort.

What do you hear at night? Or at any point in the day?