My love of writing could be traced back to when my mother gifted me a diary to document all my childhood thoughts and beliefs. Her hardworking crafty hands guided me to write cards for people on their birthdays than giving fancy gifts. When I was a child, writing was my refuge and greatest liberation at the same time. Another gift given by my mom ; the book, “Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank – where she remarked how paper has more patience than people, I vividly recall scribbling down the very same words in the comfort of my pages after I read the book
I put all my thoughts to ink and my rhyming phrases started making more sense to me as I grew older. Weaving words into verses taught me how I could bare my soul on the very pages I wrote them upon without being a berating critic for my own self. It taught me the importance of being transparent and carrying a heart that isn’t afraid. When we are not afraid, we act with compassion and strength. Poetry gave me this imperative lesson. Writing poetry that was personal and raw taught me how my words might be a tender aid to someone who might stumble across them ; a queer closeted kid out there or maybe a person finding purpose and color to life or a girl trying to prove her mettle to the world. Or even if they made sense to no one, they were the manifestation of my thoughts and that is what mattered.
Poetry made me feel that the world is my oyster, for it gave me a sense of self belief whenever I penned down my thoughts, thinking to myself how my words, will and belief is something waiting to be unleashed into the big mighty world and poetry was my medium to do that. Verses tailored by me as a result of the potential of my thought and perception taught me to appreciate the little things around us; an infant’s hands wrapped around a warm finger, pitter-patter of raindrops on the window in July, the laughter of my mother, company of kind friends among many other instances.
Poetry was never meant for just English major nerds. To quote my all-time favorite movie ; Dead Poets Society, “We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.”
This post was by Akshiti Chauhan, Ist year.
