There’s one week to go until National Poetry Day, Thursday 1st October 2020. Over the next week, I am hoping to flag up some useful links, with resources and activities for teachers, and to post a personal favourite poem each day (Corona-crises permitting). The theme this year is Vision: see it like a poet, which will be interpreted loosely. My aim is to choose contemporary poets.
Today’s offering is a poem by a British poet, Michaela Morgan, read by an Indonesian poet and short story writer, Ratna Ayu Budhiarti, about a young girl from Afghanistan. It’s about ‘a girl who has words’, and the cruelty of organised misogyny. Do please make time (just over one minute) to watch the YouTube video. Ratna’s reading is stunning in it’s power: calm, measured, yet chilling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFg06KD-XW8
Here is the link to the National Poetry Day website, with poems, events, teaching resources, and much more besides.
Malala
A girl with a book.
A girl with a book.
That’s what has scared them –
A girl, with a book.
They get onto the bus.
They call out my name.
They aim. And they fire.
A shot to the brain.
Because a girl with a book,
A girl with a voice,
A girl with a brain,
A girl with a choice,
A girl with a plan
To have rights, like a man.
That’s what they’re scared of
One girl, with a book.
A girl who has words.
A girl with a pen.
A girl to be heard
With support of her friends
Who want to live free –
That’s what they fear
a girl just like me.
© Michaela Morgan
