Year 10 student Haidee voiced her concerns about the environment recently in a poem she wrote for the Commonwealth Voices Competition.
The competition is a School Spoken Word Performance Poetry competition which was launched to give secondary students across Lancashire a chance to share their views about their vision for a ‘Common Future’.
Haidee was inspired to write her poem ‘I am Confused’ after she wrote to the Prime Minister, Teresa May, expressing her concerns about fracking. She said, “I wrote to her about my views, the effects fracking has on the environment and my concerns about how people make decisions that may not negatively affect them, but do negatively affect others. I was really frustrated when I received a reply from the Business Energy and Industrial Strategy which dismissed my concerns and alluded to the fact they thought my facts were incorrect. I just want people to take responsibility for their actions and use some foresight to anticipate the possible affect their actions might have for future generations. This is what inspired me to write the poem”. Although the poem wasn’t shortlisted for the finals Haidee is hopeful that it will have a positive impact on the people who listen to it. She added, “Being shortlisted for the finals would have been great, but for me the competition was more about raising awareness than winning. I hope that after hearing the poem people might start to think a bit more about how they treat the world and other people”.
English Teacher Mrs Fry said, “Haidee is a remarkable student. Not only did she take the initiative write to our PM about a subject which concerns her deeply, she turned her frustrations into something potentially very positive through writing the poem for the Commonwealth Voices competition. We are very proud of her efforts and the fact she has taken a stand for something that she passionately believes in”.
Haidee’s poem, ‘I am Confused’ is available to listen to online here.
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