Winner of the SciPo2019 Under-18 Poetry Competition

Winner of the SciPo2019 Under-18 poetry competition: theme ‘Eating Plants’, judged by Carrie Etter

Nereum oleander 

You're a cactus flower 
Born from spikes and pricks. 
You transcend your roots 
Living for that bloom 
Which will finally change
Their perception of you. 

Hydration isn't necessary-
Xerophyte. 
You're love. 
You're desert destiny. 

You glisten, 
You listen 
To the various thoughts of famine which pass over the lobes of my brain,
And rest on the parchment of my tongue. 

You live, 
You're life,
You're vim and vigour. 

Enchantress I said, 
Preying on my moments of vulnerability, 
I am delirious, I am delusional. 
You resemble safety, 
You make me 
Pluck you 
with total insanity.

Isaiah Ambssa  Robinson-Lewis, aged 16

.

The SciPo2019 Network has permission for publishing the data, poem and photo.

Photo by Lisandro Gallardon.