A member of the Creative Writing enrichment at Solihull Sixth Form College has been won a poetry writing competition for 11-18 year olds.
Anastasija Stradniece was one of five prize winners selected from 20,000 entries to the Young Writers’ Empowered competition. Young Writers is an organisation with the aim to encourage young people to engage in creative writing. They run poetry and creative writing competitions for all ages through schools and provide free resources for students and teachers alike.
The recent Key Stage 3 and 4 competition was open to 11-18 year olds and the theme of “Empowered” aimed to help young people take back some control over their lives by finding their voices to express themselves through poetry. Anastasija’s poem on empowerment centred around not giving up despite the trials you might face and to find yourself and your purpose throughout life (see below to read Anastasija’s poem in full).
Anastasija is currently study English Literature, History and Psychology at A level and juggles her studies with her creative writing.
She commented:
“I’m writing a novel, which is mostly autobiographical. It includes some fictional elements because I want a story that represents me and what I’ve been through, to have something tangible to encompass my feelings, and perhaps allow me come to terms with the struggles I’ve faced in my life. I also want people who have gone through similar things to me to relate to my work and maybe take something from it, so it can help them too.”
Anastasija hopes to pursue a professional writing career in the future and is currently investigating the creative writing options she can pursue at university, including looking into the possibility of applying to the Universities at Oxford, Manchester and Birmingham.
What Is Empowerment? By Anastasija Stradniece
Perhaps empowerment is to wear your heart on your sleeves,
and instead of pecking beaks of daws,
tender hands hold your muscle that believes,
holds your virtues, mind, and flaws.
It could be your thoughts that form into bubbles,
holding them in your palm and letting them pop on paper
with words that carve into your soul and troubles
that as you write, slowly taper.
Maybe it’s streaks of paint on black canvas forming
figures, shapes, wisps of breath that play
out in the minds of souls that look upon it, warming
the soft crevices of their heart as they wander away.
Possibly, it’s still walking – crawling, even – on morning fields
or concrete paths, not knowing when the horizon will end,
who you’ll bloom to be, and what the future wields.
A star in the sky flowers, though, and you choose to wend.
You call this star Purpose, and it makes a home in the sky.
Some days it’s brighter than the sun, some nights it’s not even there.
Yet, it still watches in love even if there’s nothing to descry.
It hopes you still keep on going, even when you’re in despair.
Perhaps empowerment is still not giving up,
even when life doesn’t seem enough.
12 April 2022