Page 24 - Compilation of Poems Arau International Poetry Festival 2021

I walk miles to the nearest school
Tracking down the hilly slopes bare
footedly
My stomach growls and my pocket is
empty
o
h

,
a
a
n
t
k

Mom asks me to attend school, so I

I
o
M o m s s m e t t e d s c o o l s
won’t be poor
Hopelessly poor like my old father

So, I can’t be like my poor father?
Who spends his entire years
Sprinting about the wild Semai forest
e
o
l
s

s
a
o
b
?
s
r

w

f
d
l
i
i
t
g
n
H
Hunting countless of wild boars?
n
u

u
t
n
c
o

Still, I brave myself sitting in the last
row
at that little corner with my head hold
down
M y t a h e
My teacher’s voice echoes in my
c
e

head…
Bah Luit spell, Bah Luit count, Bah
Luit reads
I sweat, I smell, I am stupid
I am an Indigenous … not a genius.

by:

sharina
saad