Entries for the Young Writers' Poetry Competition 'This is Me'

Students in Creative Writing Club wrote some poems for this competition.

The Girl with the Stutter

This is me and I have a stutter

But I’m proud and I don’t let it stop me.

I’m different and smart and kind and I’m strong

But I can’t always say what I mean.

 

Listen, I’m not stupid - I’m going to change the world

And be an inspiration for every little girl.

 

Just realise I’m not scared, it’s just a condition -

If you looked closer you’d see that I’m full of ambition.

 

I’m trying to say what I mean, nothing’s stopping me

Except you, your ignorance and all your interrupting.

 

And there’s more to stuttering than you would ever know

Sometimes I’m stuttering and making no sound at all.

 

No no no! I’m so angry and tired of this!

I’ll say it again, why are you all so ignorant?

 

I’ve spoken to crowds; I love to act - yes! -

‘Cause I use a technique called costal breathing!

 

It’s just so exhausting, if only you knew

How many people are struggling too.

You just can’t imagine, how hard it is to speak,

Every word is a mountain, I’m climbing the peak.

 

So, when you hear me stutter, just please leave me be.

I’ll say it in time,

And I promise you’ll hear me.

 

By Amelia McMillan Y10

Tell Her I Said Hi

Picture me 

Aged three 

Sat in a circle 

With people I don’t know.

My teacher asks, 

Hands clasped, 

Who are you? 

I don’t know. 

 

Years later, 

I write this on paper, 

And continue to question, 

Who am I? 

 

Am I the breath I take? 

Am I the mark I make? 

Footsteps left, 

Pressed into the sand. 

 

Did the dinosaurs ponder 

Humanity’s' wonder, 

Bones and fossils, 

We haven’t forgotten? 

 

Or did the poets think, 

Pen, paper and ink, 

That their work would live on? 

That we would remember? 

 

Perhaps I am 

The doors I slam 

The screams, the shouts, 

The arguments. 

 

Am I my friends 

Or the dead ends 

Or the maze itself? 

The exit. 

 

I hope I am the trail 

I leave behind without fail. 

The traces of myself 

Everywhere I’ve been. 

 

I pray I am the smiles, 

The only thing worthwhile, 

And the laughter I cause. 

Who am I? 

 

That girl will never know the answer, 

But if you ever happen past her, 

Tell her who she is. 

Tell her I said hi. 

 

NIAMH WHELAN Y9