Papa: I seem to forget about this world
When my headphones are in my ears
All sounds around melt away
There’s only vibrations inside here
When I wear my headphones
I cannot hear the subtleties of nature
Chirping birds and whistling crickets are all lost on me
I can’t hear the fan or the soup stir
When I wear headphones
I can’t hear you either
Everything outside fades away
All that’s left is the screen
And artificial vibrations
From the device in my hands
The Kids Napping Store
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The cheapest place to buy your own children!
Whether you want a teenager or a small family of four,
We have a variety of different ages, races and religions!
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Rest assured, all the children here have appropriate aspirations
Of being either engineers, lawyers or doctors!
On average, we feed the goblins with necessary nutrients two times a day
For our prime priority is the health of the youngsters in our care
Their dedicated hard work at the mines is not without pay!
And we let them out their cages at least once a week for air
Through the service of college dropouts, we also provide quality education
So that you are guaranteed that the little brats be financially stable
After you are old, wrinkly and the cause of the economy’s stagnation
(Disclaimer: In court, the above guarantee is not legally liable)
So come shop at the Kids Napping store!
We have exclusive discounts on Thursdays and Wednesdays
are you okay?
when she asked I wanted to say
no
no I’m not
one by one my friends dropped
day by day my life became optional
lesson by lesson i would be more quiet
breath by breath the air felt more toxic
thought by thought I became more negative
night by night I shed more tears
outfit by outfit I felt more judged
touch by touch I was more weak
meal by meal I felt more alone
teacher by teacher I felt more brainless
blink by blink I shifted to seeing the bad in people
I said
yes
yes
I’m fine
word by word this became harder to write
That bright girl lives in darkness,
She is still strong.
That girl who has friends is lonely,
She is still strong.
That girl wants to make everyone happy, despite her tears
She is still strong.
That girl is educated in an ignorant world,
She is still strong.
That girl dares to fly in a land of broken wings,
And she is strong.
That girl is hated by many, but she still knows how to love
And she is strong.
That girl’s parents expect her to fail, but she is their success
And she is strong.
That girl is me…
She will stay strong.
I tried my best
I didn’t succeed.
I ran the race
I lost the lead.
Heed this quote:
“Do or Do Not, there is No Try”
but I proclaim it is a lie.
There is no shame
in being defeated.
There is no loss
in losing your fame.
You are who you are
and you did what you could,
go on, go on, you really should.
My short life has had few constants
But my teachers have always been one
I’ve been learning the world since an infant
Absorbing knowledge from everyone
My parents taught me to read and write
My brother taught me his social skills
My middle-school enemies taught me how to avoid a fight
Gratitude taught me money and the significance of bills
Those characters in my favorite show taught me passion
While their creators taught me the impact of creation
Books taught me to learn while having fun
And my creative pursuits taught me how to get a project done
My culture gave me a label and taught me an identity
My friends taught me to not be defined by it
I’ve learnt and grown since I was a itty bitty
And I’m lucky enough to have had the best teachers through every bit
The nature of nature is imperfect and defective
The ugly duckling and infected tree
We, humans, built from the ground up
Improvised, unscripted, devised
As an elaborate machine to carry out the simple functions:
Heart; pumping, muscles; contracting.
The sycamore’s bark cracked and peeled shows her mellowness
Through her ‘defects’ that he, the Birch, decided were ugly and impure.
(Impurity results in DESERVED animosity he jeers.)
But I with my ugliness, punctured skin, cracked bark, falling leaves,
Find it hard to nurse the sick Birch’s beliefs.
And as I continue to age and my trunk grows into
A large, fractured, discoloured, twisted mess;
I will grow even more distant from his tastes
and the Birch will have to cope and watch me evolve
Into the grand sycamore tree I was improvised to be.
I fell asleep to the sunrise
To the fading stars and the crow’s cries
So just imagine my surprise
When I woke up to being burnt alive
I had no transition, no warning, no note
Just blisters and burns and a message that wrote:
“You and 7 billion people are now in the same boat”
A burning, blazing barge, barely afloat
The world is on fire; that’s old news
Yet the earth thrives in our pain with barely a bruise
While we’re nursing our wounds from the endless abuse
She’s escaping her own flames on waterlogged canoes
One day I saw a castle
I thought there’d be no hassle
Going in…
As I went in I found a bin
With expensive jewellery in it
it breaks at times,
how should I cope?
it feels like roses are already dead
and violets are left with no hope.
it’s afraid of speaking what it feels
and so, it decided to write.
it’s terrifying to see it break
and see it cry every night.
it beats faster with every thought,
and screams a little more loudly with another one,
no, my screams never got lost in those voices around
they are just ignored by this world.
it calms me down every night
and asks me to not weep
enough, enough of overthinking today
its 3 am
shh…. go back to sleep.
credits- Palak Jatwani