Poetry — my decade of growth

Time allows us to grow into ourselves and our individual styles. We overcome, we push through, and we bask in our current selves. It is the mistakes, failures, and lights at the end of the tunnels that have shaped us into who we are today.

Before the current “me”, the vocal and self-assured “me”, I was a very shy and insecure person. The bullying and teasing throughout secondary school had a negative impact on me even as I got older. Eventually, those tears and the overwhelming sadness turned into stained words on notebooks. Before my mouth learned to defend me, I learned to express myself through writing poetry. Being vulnerable was a scary thought, which is why my words were never read by others. Writing poetry became an outlet.

Now, 10 years later, poetry is still an outlet, a safe space to express. The difference is now that I find vulnerability empowering. I find strength in sharing my words. Over the past decade, I have reflected on my old work and I have seen growth and how much my writing styles have changed with me. Here are a few poems I wrote at different stages in my life.

Skater - written in 2010:

"You've got on your Chuck Taylor's , I've got on my Van's .

Your jeans hanging loose , rings piled on my hands.

A black beanie hat flops over your hair , my hijab's in place.

We're moving yet heading nowhere .

You've got your skateboard , I've got my feet ,

you've got that chariming smile I can't delete.

I've been struck by lighting and I can't help smiling

my heart won't quit beating because

You make me wanna skate , board slides and all."

Time - written in 2018:

"Time unfolds our minds and peels away our skin. It waits for nothing, ticking silently.

The interfering sounds of life tune out it’s ticking but it is still there. It won’t pause, to give me a chance to inhale all that life has to offer.

Time unfolds our minds and peels away our skin. Until we are left with just bones and memories. "

BLM - written in 2020:

"You use bullets to silence us, weaken us, to stripe us of power

but you see

legacies don't die at the hands of bullets

strength doesn't bend to the will of metal

power doesn't breath in one body alone, it lives in us all, it moves us to act, to unify against injustice.

All you have are your bullets, soon enough you'll run out but we will still be standing strong with our fists in the air."

Over the years, poetry has led me to meet some of the most amazing and talented people. It has given me a platform to speak my truth and break the cycle of silence regarding taboo topics. During my time performing, people have approached me telling me that my words have resonated with them, and this has continued to push me to express and share my words. This ultimately led me to self-publishing my first poetry book and am currently working on my second book. While writing for the second book I noticed how much my writing has changed just in the past two years.

We often take words for granted, but words heal, and words connect. If you got this far I'd really appreicate it if you could support my poetry by sharing the below link with your friends and family.

Find my latest book ‘Letters on my tongue’ here https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B086Y7D3WB