Houses That Can’t Be Torn Down

Written By Alexandria Hernandez

by Maleah Olivarez

University of the Incarnate Word

Maleah Olivarez was born in Biloxi, Mississippi, but is now a high school student at Young Women’s Leadership Academy. She was the first place winner of the 2023 UIW High School Creative Writing Contest. She says this piece is inspired by the old historic houses around her school and old-school romance.

History of houses that can’t be torn down

I imagine that they were in the time-

of men who created art and not a “tinder” handle

Men that were taught to treat a woman as a prized possession

The men who built houses for the woman-

they wanted to soon take their name

White picket fences and shutters around the window frame

The men who built houses that’ll live as long as their relationship would

These houses which we see today that clearly-

weren’t made from weak and breakable wood

These historic houses that by law can’t be destroyed-

remind us of a time when society was made up of

real men and not immature boys

Alexandria Hernandez
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