A student at the Bishop’s Stortford High School beat almost 200 other pupils to win a poetry competition for Black History Month.
Emilia Anniss, who is 16 and from Dunmow, took up the challenge to write about a black historical figure or the theme of identity.
The Year 12 student reflected on England and identity and said: “I chose this subject as I think that being English is about more than where you’re born or where your parents were born or the colour of your skin; instead it’s more about an attitude and how you identify.”
Her words resonated with staff at the London Road secondary who organised the competition which also marked National Poetry Day.
Subject leader for English, Harmeet Matharu, said: “The competition was run not only by the English and history departments but also the religious studies and citizenship department, whom I would like to publicly thank for their accompanying programme of assemblies and citizenship lessons that promoted the competition so well.
“The students at TBSHS are amazing and have impressed their English teachers a great deal. Not only are they brilliant poets, but they also have an awareness of all the issues that Black History Month aims to highlight and they all have a deep desire to promote equality and change things for the better. We couldn’t be more proud of them.
“Emilia’s poem stood out for us because it shows us very clearly the essence of what it means to be English, and how our national identity should always be a positive thing, rather than an instrument for hate.”
Subject leader for history Elizabeth Quinlan added: “We received close to 200 entries from across all year groups, including a great many from the sixth form, and it was very difficult to pick a winner – but we felt the visceral power and complex themes of Emilia’s work made it a very worthy choice.”
Emilia’s poem:
being english
what is england? this green and pleasant land?
is it a physical place:
the rolling valleys of the home counties striped with weary commuter trains
the peaks of the north, purple with heather
or the coast that outlines our tiny island:
stormy grey seas carrying dinghies of those looking for a better, more english, life
smashing against the cliffs
is it deeper than a place:
a feeling like adrenaline
running through veins into the beating heart of London
where cultures clash
reggae music and afro beats of windrush children
overheard by women swaddled in nigerian wrappers
made up of hot slices of colour
like a stained glass window
seas of faces of every colour imaginable clustered together in a football stadium
cheering on players in their striped kits who take the knee AND sing the national anthem because neither is mutually exclusive
the chants are sometimes kind
(but sometimes not)
or a sense, like smell
street food stalls in camden market
vendors yelling
shwarma bar kosher lebanese wraps buy 2 for 3 jerk chicken curry and chips
smells fusing in the air and painting colours in the sky
bright ochre yellow of curry powder
blazing vermillion of paprika
who are the english:
not the red faced EDL members draped in their blood red crosses
but the people who have come together
in beating hearts like London
from all over the world
from everywhere
from england
being english to me is more than a feeling
being english to me is identity
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