The Cleveland Reservoir of Sieves - By: Sarah Wang

I have spent my life catching the rain, cupping my palms until the muscles ache, waiting for the weight of it to tell me that I am finally here, finally stable.

The weight of achievements, grades, and completed to-do lists fills the wide vessel swallowing me whole.

But only for a second… only for the weight to be porous once more.

Trapped inside my own achievements, I drown in a cup that's empty, banging a hollow beat; each attempt is just another tissue triumph frantically tossed into the Cleveland spillway, dissolving before it hits the dark below. The water hits the sides of the concrete over and over again, splashing with resounding echoes, a call in the middle of a deep pit, the sounds bouncing off the walls, torturing me with the repeated attempts of breaking the cycle.

I shudder against the walls brimming with solo sheets and manuscripts that scarcely bring me the warmth of my cage that never seems to shift. The more I collect, the tighter the perimeter draws; I am a giant suffocating in a trophy case.

The water slips like silk through my calloused fingers as I desperately gnaw at whatever is left, only for it to vaporize de novo.

I stare at the steam; it tastes like my own skin, the attempts racked into the weight, leaving me feeling like a cannibal in my own way.

The finish line, always nudging back farther, teasing me to fill the sieve; to keep filling the emptiness that grows with every accomplishment, once full with prospect, my hope to accomplish has completely lost its meaning.

I reach for the bitter line one more time, unable to continue on. Only to find my fingers have turned to mist too. There is nothing left of me to be enough.

Please give a detailed explanation about the meaning and main idea of this poem.

This poem explores the "burnout" and emotional vacuum that often follows high achievement. It uses the water cycle—specifically within the context of the Cleveland Dam—as a metaphor for the fleeting nature of success. The main idea is the "sieve" of the human ego: no matter how many awards or grades (the water) one collects, the feeling of being "enough" remains porous and evaporates, leaving the person feeling empty and exhausted.

Please explain your writing and thought process regarding this poem.

I wanted to combine the physical, industrial imagery of my local watershed (the concrete and spillways of the Cleveland Dam) with the internal, claustrophobic feeling of academic pressure. I focused on the transition of states—from heavy rain to solid ice/concrete to rising steam—to mirror how my sense of self feels increasingly thin as I try to keep up with endless "to-do lists." I chose the "tissue triumph" imagery to show the fragility of success when compared to the massive "ocean" of expectation.

Why did you choose to write this poem?

I wrote this to process the feeling of "vanishing" behind my own resume. As a student, there is a constant push for more, and I wanted to capture the moment when accomplishment stops feeling like a victory and starts feeling like a cage. It was a way to ground my local environment into my personal mental health journey.

Do you have any tips or anything to share with the youth writers who may be reading this?

Don't be afraid to go dark or visceral with your imagery. Sometimes the most uncomfortable lines, like tasting your own skin in the steam, are the ones that are the most honest. Ground your big "abstract" feelings (like sadness or stress) in "concrete" local things you can actually see and touch.