Read more about the Mukwashi Trust Schools Competition on their website here.
Inspired by their example, KES invited our students to submit their own poems on the theme of change to the House Poetry Competition held during Reading Week. Ms Mwanamwamba, Ms Sikamikami and the Upper Secondary Learners of Mukwashi Trust School were led by their school principal, Ms Sakuwaha, in judging our competition.
Anand’s (Rems) poem “These Words” was their overall winner followed by Oscar’s (Shells) poem “Suicidal Thoughts”.
These Words
Everything could change you,
These words that I write,
The ideas that I plant,
Even your reaction could make your life different,
A speck of dust moving,
Could create a movement for a revolution,
A slight gust of wind might make you drop out of school,
These words could win you the lottery,
But these words could murder a man,
These words could elect a dictator,
So be careful, with these words.
Anand (Rems)
Suicidal Thoughts
Suffer in silence,
Anxiety in the night,
Causes fear in the light,
Suffer in silence,
Suffer in silence,
Constant pain,
Activates the inner chimp in the brain,
Suffer in silence,
Suffer in silence,
Alone in the rain,
Causes your mental health to spiral
down the drain,
Suffer in silence,
Suffer in silence,
A solider enduring it all,
Will eventually begin to fall,
Suffer in silence,
Suffer in silence,
They are told to suck it up after all,
It’s the usual protocol,
Suffer in silence,
Suffer in silence,
Takes it all in,
As they drop their chin,
And think whether death could win,
As they say,
Suicide makes all things grey,
Suffer in silence,
Suffer in silence,
A now faceless man,
Could’ve had a longer lifespan,
Suffer in silence,
Suffers in silence?
In fact he DID have a long life,
As he opened up and was convinced
not to use the knife,
Now doesn’t suffer.
Oscar (Shells)
However, the judges at Mukwashi Trust School generously commented on the top three poems in each year group to give our students a vivid sense of what experiences the students of our schools share. The winning poems and judges comments from both competitions have been compiled into a booklet.
King Edward’s English Department would like to thank our Heads of House for helping to make the competition a success and above l we would like to say “zikomo” to the students and especially the teachers at Mukwashi Trust School for their careful judging and their inspiring example.
Dr Brown
