Grand Rapids — Grand Rapids Montessori High School junior Shay Taliana discovered poetry as an effective outlet for her “righteous anger.”
She identifies as a poet, as well as the “proud daughter of a Vietnamese refugee and an awesome white guy.” Since she was in middle school, Shay has been writing and submitting her work to poetry contests.
This year, she won first place in the high school division of the Grand Rapids Public Library Dyer-Ives Poetry Competition with her poem, “Go Back To Where You Came From.”
Shay was also previously one of the winners of Kent District Library’s Write Michigan Teen Poetry Contest in 2024 for her poem, “Womanhood”, and won again in 2025 in the spoken word competition.
For “Go Back To Where You Came From,” Shay said she was motivated to write about the recent actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
“As the daughter of an immigrant, often our impact is overlooked. People are trying to erase people of color from American history… they forget that we built this country,” she said in her artist statement.
“We are America. Indigenous people are being illegally deported, when this is their land. Innocent citizens were murdered for the sake of ignorance and hatred. It’s hard to stay hopeful when violence surrounds you.”
Read Shay’s poem in full below:
Go Back To Where You Came From
By Shay Taliana
They first came with fists in the air.
They came with anger and hate in their eyes.
Do we not belong here?
The second time, they fed us lies.
They tell us that we should be with our own kind.
We work the jobs that you ignore.
Scrub the dishes, mop the floor.
Cook in kitchens everywhere.
Do your nails, dye your hair.
We are behind every business, every brand.
We are America.
Immigrants came here.
They stole our crops.
They stole our land.
Immigrants with skin as white as snow.
Immigrants with blonde hair, blue eyes, and weary legs.
We tolerated them.
We accepted them.
Just to be robbed of our own properties
Killed
and worst of all
Forgotten.
They can send us away.
They can send away our friends.
Our coworkers
Our neighbors
Our families
But who are the pilgrims then?
Immigrants.
They can send away everyone who was born here.
Everyone who just wasn’t the right shade
for their palette.
Our impact will remain.
They will sigh.
They will complain,
“My lawn is overgrown!”
“My hair needs to be cut!”
“My nails are chipped!”
“My food is cold!”
“My house is dirty!”
Who’s working for you now?
So, go on, go back to where you came from.
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