Thank you so much to everyone who participated in our World Poetry Day contest. Every submission was so beautiful and thoughtful – it is amazing to see such talent!
It was a very tough decision but it is with great excitement that we announce this years winner: upcoming writer and poet, Lekpele M. Nyamalon.
Lekpele’s entry, titled “Forgotten Future”, shares with us what he thinks young people deserve in a simple and beautifully haunting poem. Congratulations, Lekpele!
Forgotten future
We don’t crave the stars But a light to shine on our paths That we stumble not
Not the moon Just a space to play at night And beam with innocence
We hope not for diamonds But a precious gift of dignity Buried beneath our ground
Let our girls live And go to school too Spare them from rape and genital mutilation
Our little boys aren’t men For arms and drugs Leave them
Give the earth when you’re done We might need it Free from pollution
We need a life At least once Is that hard?
About the Author:
Lekpele M. Nyamalon is an upcoming Liberian writer and poet. He has featured at several open-mic events across Liberia and contributes regularly to the Poetry column of the Daily Observer Newspaper in Liberia. Lekpele has featured at the Liberian National Museum Arts exhibition as a guest poet and the One billion rising of the vagina monologues in Monrovia. He was recently selected as a participating Poet, along with other West African Poets on a Poet’s residency on Goree Island, Senegal organized by the Open Society Initiative of West Africa (OSIWA) to articulate their views of a new Africa .
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