There are over 108,000 immigration records bearing my last name.
My roots don’t reach back to any of them.
Home holds no weight when you’re transplanted time and time again until
you look nothing like
you used to.
I can survive the unknown
but I’ll never understand it
or call it my own.
My father moved six times growing up,
and now I have known four countries across two continents:
some full of dust, empty pockets, and bright smiles,
others shiny shoes, masks, and entitlement;
and yet not a single home.

He doesn’t remember the legacy, either.
Maybe that’s why it wasn’t passed down to me.
Maybe that’s why I’m 21 and know nothing about who I’m supposed to be,
because I can’t build from severed history,
heritage gathering dust
in the graves of our forefathers.

All I have is my father’s name,
roots straining behind it,
reaching for nothing.
From the Welsh Owain, it means “young warrior.”
I suppose I have been fighting my whole life
to reclaim parts of myself left behind
that prove I come from something
greater than myself.
Because what is the point of a name
if you don’t live up to it?

“To forget one’s ancestors
is to be a brook without a source,
a tree without a root.”
So I will plant myself anew
again,
until the unknown becomes
home,
and my children
have a history
to write themselves into.

About the Winner

Micah Owens ’26 is a creative writing major who is pursuing an M.A. in literary editing and publishing through USC Dornsife’s Progressive Degree Program. Born into a devout Christian family in Adrian, Michigan, he moved to Kenya with his family when he was 10. He spent the next eight years at boarding school there before returning to the United States to attend USC Dornsife.

“Being overseas gave me a better understanding of other perspectives and broadened my worldview,” Owens says. “That fostered a desire to write.”

Why USC Dornsife

Owens says he chose USC Dornsife in order to study under renowned writers such as Percival Everett and Robin Coste Lewis. “I knew I had stories to tell but hadn’t found the voice for them, and so I needed to learn from those who had. USC Dornsife was the place for that.”

Inspiration

His autobiographical poem, “Genealogy,” was written in a poetry workshop during his junior year.

“The poem grapples with feeling cut off from your history but finding solace in the fact that you can start the legacy anew,” Owens says.

A Promising Start

Owens’ poetry has appeared in USC Dornsife’s online student publication, Palaver Arts Magazine, while his one-act play, Death Goes on a Date, was staged by Brand New Theatre, a USC student theatre organization. After graduating, he plans to pursue a career in publishing.

From the Judges:

Micah Owens’ ‘Genealogy’ is a deep, hopeful and far-reaching consideration of identity, reminding us that our roots can guide us, but they don’t define us. Our power is in defining ourselves.

Dana Johnson, chair of English and Florence R. Scott Professor of English

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