THE FOLLOWING POEM WAS SELECTED IN WINGWORD POETRY PRIZE 2023 LONGLIST.

Thousands of words in your mind,

But you have nothing to say.

Tons of people by your side,

But none when you have something to relay.

They say I am paranoid, they say it's teenage,

They say it's just a phase that would be gone one day.

One moment I am happy, the other I am sad

It's difficult even for me to understand the complexity of emotions that I have.

Still I understand or maybe I am pretending to understand what they have to say.

But there's something inside telling me-

What you're feeling is not okay.

They say it's alright to have these feelings.

They say they are there to listen to me,

But when I try to talk they shut me down saying

"It's just a phase and I should take it easy."

Perhaps that's how life is,

Perhaps everyone goes through something like this,

But for me it's my first time

So, I don't want to listen to people's advises.

I want to feel, know and explore myself.

I want to trust my emotions.

Cause even if it is just teenage,

Even if all this is just in my mind,

I know I deserve this chance

As I am one of a kind.