In collaboration with Lambeth and Southwark Libraries
This is the Year
Poetry Anthology
Highly Commended:
A Love Letter to Music
by Eunice Baya
When the days are dark,
you comfort me,
you grab ahold of me and tell me I’m free now.
I’m in a place where I can be myself.
When I cry you wipe my tears and tell me to breathe.
To let out all these emotions my world can't take.
You tell me one day people will understand me
and they will see me.
I will be loved and appreciated.
Your love is so desirable and classy.
You make me move oh so slowly and carefree.
I let the words devour me and take control,
they take control and cleanse me.
You and I become one
until you and I are nothing
but in the air,
my mind,
the room,
all that the universe allows us to be.
I let it teach me.
How to be…
Raw.Real.Free.
Let my mind flow,
let the blossoming grow,
let the emptiness die and replace it with everything.
Let my lungs take in...everything.
Your heartbreak hurts and makes me hate my world.
I stay awake until I can’t.
Because if I try,
Then I get stuck in my mind
And I go over:
The horrible memories,
The dark places,
The haunted part of me.
I cry and cry and find comfort in pain.
I get numb and drown in you and the sounds around me.
Everything becomes slow
And when i try to reach out for help,
No ones there.
So my mind and body… shuts down.
But then,
Frank Ocean and Chanel hold me,
He says it’s ok to feel.
Arctic Monkeys and 505 enter,
And Alex says it’s ok to be vulnerable.
Tyler, The Creator laughs,
He says try and enjoy life.
And Solange gracefully says love yourself.