Grade 10 Language and Literature students completed these poems as part of their unit about "Decolonizing Language" to uncover the emotion and values conveyed in our words. Students wrote about their multilingual identities, the family values shared across dinner tables, and their inspiration to find their own definition of gender or success. The pieces shared in this series explored their experiences as multi-locals whose many moves have imprinted on their identities.
I wrote my poem to articulate the ways in which societal roles and expectations have affected my understanding of myself throughout my life, especially in regard to my mental health over the last two years compared to my childhood.
paper crown
Left to stay
No heed for when rain comes,
Nor for the warping of its leaves, that lasts
From when it sinks into the silver streams of past
That stays, no matter how much I try to change it back
Forever defective
paper crown
Left behind
No heed for when change comes,
Nor the warping of its leaves
That stays, no matter how much I’ve tried,
tired, strained,
yet failed to fix a machine with broken parts
‘A perfect fit’
for some other machine
But I don’t even know if I know ‘right’ anymore
For crowns made of paper and scraps are not meant to last a lifetime
And yet I've continued to hold onto mine
Never seeing, never knowing
that I could wear a crown, free of tears.
No longer will I wear such a rigid crown of fragility.
It is now my turn to make use of this paper
And upon it inscribe myself a headpiece
That I now know is not what others said I could be
It is now my turn to allow myself the journey of discovery.
A voyage on which I get to unravel what makes a crown my own.
No longer will I wear this rigid crown of fragility.
It is now my turn to forge my own crown.
It is time for me to find all my brittle whimsy and wonder,
To gather each everlasting rip, tear and tear,
To trust in my knowledge of who I know me to be,
To craft my very being to one physical form:
And at long last, wear a crown of my very own.
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Aster Aronsson is a Finnish-Korean Grade 10 student at the International School of Helsinki.
