M.I.A

They're overwhelming me

It's overwhelming.

My minds' a bit perplexed

and my heart's a bit upset

And my limbs dont want to accept

My body wont co-operate

Nothing's working in sync to my dismay

I drop and play dead

But these demons still prey on me

They lay on me

heavy and strong

like artic cold iron in the tonnes

Crushing my morale

with weakness i am overcome

And the onlookers ask ''what's wrong?''

Looking for one to blame

but failing to see

I am the wrong

Trying to be right

Trying to conquer myself through strife and fight

But they cast me with obstacles along the way

Conflicting me with things i am too feeble to face

Theyre overwhelming me

its overwhelming.

By Zibz Hilwa

Blue Moon

Seeing the moon in daylight sky
Glowing love on a background of blue
It reminds me of the mercy of god
The beauty of life
And the thrill of waiting destiny

So I say goodbye to misery
As I love to live life in eccentricity
Completely fully entwined in mystery
The mystery of life
The intrigue of future

For you see, as strange as I may be
As childish and sometimes foolish

I know I'm blessed by the most gracious

& I know that good things come to those with patience...

By Adil Hossenally

Reality is a Sketchy Imitation

Reality is a Sketchy imitation,
numbers in bank vaults
inflated oppression like an Israeli occupation
engrained in the minds of the youth
like a pre-pubescent teen singing sensation

hyper hegemony, a twisted hallucinogenic taking man higher
than any cocaine or powerfully potent chronic.
Made a President's economics concentrate on semi-automatics
spending millions on star wars not education.
Now that's advanced Reaganomics

simple misunderstandings taken on face value,
the past tense dictates future events
complex common sense sits on the fence
whilst linguistic lies go from myths to truth.

the Over-curious cat did die another day
9 days later and curiosity saved the mouse
Bond's built like bridges with the consumer
more poisonous than a cancerous tumour

fake teachers, fake stars...
narcissistic egotistical mentors..
models who aren't fit for the role..
truth or Haqq, a labour of the heart revealed like a slow-burning coal

a pageant picking the prettiest flowers..
infatuated with the concept that beauty is outward
Anger the by-word for Strength
controlling it is being a apparently a coward

Every word spoken, is stored.

Every truth, untruth and lie
eschatologically more powerful than wi-fi
Into one invisible web of stories
Into one loud silent conversation........

Life is a temporary loan.. lost in interest
infesting our thoughts
we've mistaken a toy for the real thing..

Knights on Stage

As they prepare for war,

I take a quick moment to bask myself in the heat of the atmosphere

& Ask myself … what moves me more,

The moan of the beat or the tone of the speech?

Am I lyrically inclined or rhythmically beseeched?

A question that only time’s slow tempo will tell.

When my heart has settled for a definite answer between wisdom and rhythm.

So… Consumed in the belly of the beast, I am the crowd.

& The crowd will eat you alive if its hunger’s not satisfied.

With a rumble, I standby for the lyrical feuds.

At the back of their minds, each contender knows that you don’t get a 2^nd chance at a 1^st impression.

& I know that I’ll get as much as I give, so I make my presence known in the court

By making most noise for the one I support.

In turn, they grace the stage with art on page. War is waged.

I await my knight in rhyming armor to breakthrough in the battle for my heart and headphones.

Pacing the stage in the same way your words travel my mind.

I am listening, because your words teach me.

You are knowledge.

& I am weak and in need of power.

So I just take it in and can only marvel at your skill and hope one day that you will

Instill your talent in my words. So that like your verses, mine can be stated as fact.

The wordplay stole my heart and I fell in lyrical love…

So I guess it’s decided. The tone of the speech is what my heart is lyrically inclined to

Which was kinda expected,

& With your kind of talent, the braggadocio’s respected.

& Though you prefer the irony of the shade of the spotlight,

You’re still my soldier, my warrior, my legend and charmer.

A wordsmith, a winner, my knight in rhyming armor.

By Fauzia Amao

Words Apart at the Royal Society of Arts!

On Monday Words Apart were invited to the Royal Society of Arts Youth Awards for Innovation for winning a 2 and a half thousand pound funding application. It was a great evening with 3 groups being awarded funding too. This year, the RSA received a lot of applicants across London so Words Apart have done incredibly well to get the award for our project. A special thanks to our mentor/poet/musician Arjunan Manuelpillai for leading Words Apart and being an inspiration to all of us.

The evening started with a session of ‘mingling.’ We showcased our poetry with a laptop and different pieces on our table. Everyone was quite new to the concept of networking but includes repeating the same 5 minute speech until it becomes integrated in your verbatim.

We were then presented the award, fellow Words Apart poet Edward and I gave a quick introduction on Words Apart. Edward O’Garro Pridde performed a fantastic poem which blew everyone away about the nature of Youth Centre’s and their importance. Edward also explained the concept of our film project which will screen in Barnet in the near future and will be based on youth identity.

The award was for our project called ‘Twisted Tongues.’ The award given to us was for a film we will be making this summer, it will be a 10 minute drama written in verse incorporated with parkour. It incorporates our youth poetry group – Words Apart and another Youth parkour group. Parkour, also known as Free-running is the art of going from A to B in the most extravagant way. So walking to college would mean doing back-flips, running up walls and jumping off the top of a bus-stop. The parkour group is run by the recent winner of a Sunday Times Film competition, Lish David.

It was an evening which rewarded the efforts of everyone in the group. Words Apart have made great strides this year having performed at the South Bank Centre in the Royal Festival Hall supporting some of Palestine’s best poets. As well as performing at the Finchley Youth Theatre, the Harrow Arts Centre and the Rumi Festival. We were even invited to the Albany Theatre in Deptford to see the incredible theatre production: ‘Krunch.’ We have also increased our on-line presence with our YouTube Channel: WordsApartPoetry and our blog site: www.wordsapart7.blogspot.com ( a website coming soon) 

This summer heralds some exciting projects for Barnet based youth poetry collective ‘Words Apart’ with the film being made as well as the continued weekly Monday night poetry jams. There will also be a monthly live lounge exclusively for young poets to be held in the ‘Rumi Cave’ – A café in Willesden Green in tandem with community based charity Ulfa Aid.