Coping Mechanism

The moment I sit down to write,

I sweep everything else mundane to the rear end of my mind.

Dashing to my wooden desk,

Littered with paintbrush bristles and a mess of star-shaped sequins,

I grapple the nearest pencil.

I tear apart an ivory-hued paper,

With soft blue stripes from my school notepad,

And gape in awe at the miracles of the two combined.

With empty lines and a sharpened pencil clenched in my palm,

I’m floating amongst a sea of possibilities.

Magic occurs when the pencil is lost in the thick of its words,

And the paper unleashing delightful sighs as it peers at the beauty of messily

handwritten art.

I’m left speechless with wonder at the power of the tip of a pencil,

Words don’t fail when I unchain my mind and let it flood on paper.

I pour out my heart,

Soul,

And mind,

That takes bravery to do,

It’s less painful on paper.

It drenches with the contents spilled from my spirit,

The paper weeps hearing all my woes and aims in life,

But it vows for it all to remain an unknown story.

It silently listens to my intellect and wonders avidly when I’ll treat the empty lines with

more of my wisdom.

I’m composing words that dance and sing off my tongue,

Pouring out the hundreds of art canvases trapped my mind,

The expressive metaphors and all the bedazzling imagery,

That paint my repressed emotions,

And everything between the lines.

I write to help me cope,

To touch the world in a different light,

And make me trust that sunshine exists.

I write to untie art wherever possible,

And cherish the written magic.

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About the Author

The author of these poems is Farzeen Rashid. Farzeen is 16 years old and she is a Pakistani girl born and raised in Canada. She started writing poetry when she was 15 years old, however, in quarantine, she’s been sharpening up her skills more than ever. She has written over 85 poems, topics ranging from her very personal experiences to the flaws in our modern society. Her biggest dream is to publish an anthology poetry book, in other words, she wants to publish a collection of all her poems she wrote when she was a teenager. Alongside an author, she also desires to become a family doctor, to fulfill her childhood dream of pursuing a career in medicine. She is also the creator of a nonprofit organization, the Kindness Worldwide Movement. She is also the writer of the Kindness Worldwide Movement blog, which is an extension of the organization. She also has a Youtube channel dedicated to her art (crochet, embroidery, painting, drawing, and arts and crafts) called Farzeen The Artist.

I use poetry as a positive coping mechanism. Poetry has always reflected my creativity. It is often hard to articulate in spoken words my unique ideas, so oftentimes, my creative ideas are cramped inside of my head, buried to the back of my mind. But with poetry, my inner creativity gets unchained inside of my mind, and creativity flows easily. I found this poem I wrote to be meaningful in representing how I feel when I sit down to write. It truly is an amazing moment.