BLACKSBURG, Va., April 9 -- Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University issued the following news release:
Manas Karki wrotepoetry when he was young as a hobby. But as a first-year international student at Virginia Tech, he penned words that are personal. Karki, who is from Nepal, said adjusting to America isn't easy for many international students.
His first-place poem in this year's Giovanni-Steger Poetry Prize competition, "Visa Length," offers a window into his life and that of other students who shared their experiences with him.
Ilearned English from exit signs
and lectures that explained gravity
but never my name.
my mother packed language into my suitcase -
verbs without equivalents,
a word for home that means pe...