Litmus Year: 2020

We have the same eyes

We have the same eyes (Esme Thomas) We have the same eyes She and I Brown Same sun, same sky Same age, same life? Small house, small bunk bed I used to have a bunk bed. And in her hand she holds a phone And when the music plays she is no more alone, than me… I say to myself. For our hips can move and our faces can smile And for she and I a photo can bring on The arrowing ache The endless grab in the dark We stretch our arm for the, The panic cord The path The trail of bread crumbs To you, to me, to her, to she. The burnt mud slips into the water It makes a whirlpool in the bucket It looks like a hurricane but instead of Dorothy, her house and her little black dog Bugs. The yellow path back is a long winding slope. The house is now dark and solemn. And the pictures corners bent and worn. I’ll make it okay You will see For we have the same eyes She and I Just not the same minds But now the plane is landing And the sky is upside down For she is not me And I am not her And my conscience is not clean Because now I see her eyes were blue.
Esme says, “This poem is inspired by my time with The Nasio Trust Charity who help to break the cycle of poverty in Kenya. When there I found myself looking for similarities between my life and the community in Musanda. I was able to meet a girl my age named Judith, I saw her strong ...

Read more

Imagination in Common

by Emily Young, Year 9, St Joseph's Catholic Academy, Hebburn   © Copyright 2020 Emily Young. All rights reserved.

Writing Together

  by Sophie, Allana, Kaitlin and Alana   Inspired by Rupi Kaur's Universe and William Ernest Henley's Invictus   © Copyright 2020 Sophie, Allana, Kaitlin and Alana. All rights reserved.

Blue

    by Chanaise, Year 9, from Peterborough © Copyright 2020 Chanaise. All rights reserved.