Made in Poetry
From a young age, I have not been as others were, I have not seen as others saw. There is something that draws me to the works of Edgar Allan Poe, his poem titled “Alone” resonates with my entire being.
I grew up picking sides and choosing which parent to spend time with, moving from home to home and losing pieces of myself along the way. However, I never want to be defined by the place I come from or the person I used to be, for who we are is far more important than what we appear to be. I think it is the mark of every warrior to have scars that remind us of the battles we faced, and my book is reminiscent of this journey and experience.
As a child, I decided to change the world, back then I imagined a future better than the one we were all conformed to live in. As the years passed, I realised that would take more than planting trees.
At school I was bullied for being a few shades darker than the desirable complexion, to this day it still baffles me how children are taught to compare people by the colour of skin we were created to live in. Individually, we each have strengths and weaknesses. I believe this is to balance some scale in the universe, like the symbolism of yin and yang. Words have always been my forte, while my inability to solve math equations led to my friends saying that I would never amount to anything.
During adolescence, my circle became a simple dot. I spent a lot of time alone without feeling lonely, my mind became great company as I began to observe people and things, creating my own understanding of what did not seem to make sense. It was beautiful to find that the world has more space for those who feel like they do not fit in. I wrote my heart out to find myself, hence the title of my book, Made in Poetry.
I do not believe in self-pity; I believe that our challenges are opportunities in disguise for us to seek our individual potential. We each have a gift and it is our responsibility to find it and make a difference. I used to write to inspire young people, but as I compiled my work into a collection, I realised that no matter the age or circumstance, any person at any given time could decide to change their life and it will change.
I want each person who reads my book to believe in the possibility of living their dream, to wake up each morning and feel like they are capable of anything.
