King Edward VI High School for Girls is delighted to announce that its Poet Laureate for 2021-2022 is Lower Fifth pupil Ritisha.
Poems were entered on the theme of “Regeneration”, and the standard was superb.
Ritisha’s winning poem:
Regeneration.
What does it mean,
To build yourself back up?
Regeneration.
What does it mean?
To renew the dying light,
To refuse to tamp down the fight,
The flame of spirit still left alight.
When inertia consumes each shattered thought,
When the silky blackness of hollow nothingness
Shrouds in a cocoon of blissful ignorance,
I will regenerate.
I’ll build myself back up,
Won’t tamp down the fight.
The flame of the spirit will stay alight.
This is my life,
This is my chance.
I can mould my own fate,
I can liberate my state,
Dominate
And satiate
This entity that we call life.
I will regenerate.
Ritisha’s poetry has been published in numerous anthologies and on internationally acclaimed digital platforms, the latter when she collaborated with Indian tribal artists to revive forgotten art forms.
She has raised money for the NHS during the coronavirus pandemic by writing specially commissioned personalised poems, and was nominated for a West Midlands Young Active Citizen Award.
You can read more of Ritisha’s poetry at https://ritisha.kehsblogs.net/