Crazy rolls of his tongue like a wave and erodes the coastline of your heart.

Word association

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This post is somewhat unrelated to the normal theme of my blog but I want to keep you guys updated on my general creative development and use this space as a record of my work. Hope you don’t mind!

I’m part of the Civic Leadership Academy at my university, which involves a third sector internship and training in how to be a civic leader. The launch event of the program took place recently and I spoke about my experience so far after one month of interning at Writerz and Scribez. W&S is an organisation that endeavours to move art and creative writing into spaces where it is not normally appreciated. I also discussed why the arts are important for community engagement. From my experience, art and creative writing help you to discover yourself in a new way, they give you time with yourself. Through creativity, you can realise the skills and strengths that you have always had within and these can help you with whatever struggles you may be dealing with.

Furthermore, art and creative writing are powerful means of communicating your personal experiences in a way others can relate to. We all know pain, joy, disappointment, excitement, even if we don’t share the same experiences of these emotions. By expressing yourself creatively you let people into your emotions and allow others to recognise them in themselves.

I finished my talk with a poem named ‘Word association’. It’s inspired by domestic abuse and the power of words to hurt but also to heal.

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Listen. 
A word of warning.
Never underestimate the power of a word.
Don’t be misled by its laziness on the page,
like a player on a stage who’s forgotten his lines.
Don’t let its two-dimensional subtlety fool you into thinking that it’s speechless.
 
When he says “you’re crazy”-
The word crawls into your ears and 
every repetition colours your mind black.
Crazy.
            Crazy.
                        Crazy rolls of his tongue like a 
Wave and erodes the coastline of your heart.
Crazy bleeds through his teeth and it’s sharp enough to bite.
Crazy ties your hands so you’re powerless to fight.
 
Sticks and stones may break your bones but you’re afraid crazy will kill you.
 
Listen.
There is life in the friction of pen against paper,
that heat is the fire of resistance.
When you repurpose the letters he forced threw your name you harness the power of a poet:
 
Confident
Radiant
Admirable
Zesty 
Youthful
 
You write the words and the ink is permanent and 
suddenly the player is aware of his stage.
You and I must be aware of our stage
so we are ready to speak when they ask us for the words our identities are made of.
 
Listen.
Words are like water; they take the shape of their holder.
Let them take your shape. Let them shower you with clarity so all the world can see that
You. Are. Not. Crazy.