This year’s winner of the National Schools Poetry Award is Chantelle Xiong of St Andrew’s College, Christchurch.

The National Schools Poetry Award is an annual poetry competition for senior high school students in Aotearoa run by the International Institute of Modern Letters at Te Herenga Waka University | Victoria University of Wellington.

This year’s judge, the acclaimed poet and academic Joan Fleming, selected Chantelle Xiong’s poem ‘But I wish /.’ as the winner, praising its “sophisticated rendering of self-reclamation” and for being “formally inventive in a truly memorable way”.

Visit the National Schools Poetry Awards website to read Joan’s judge’s report and the 10 finalist poems. And while you’re at it – check out National Poetry Day’s calendar of events to see what’s happening across the motu today and over the weekend.

But i wish / .

 

my Parents are not from here / they say / c-h-i-n-a 中国

/ zhōng guó / i understand /

i am New Zealander, but i am not / i do not understand

 

last week i learnt the word water

–      don’t know what ‘different’ means yet /sometimes i feel it

/ kids at school say my lunch box smells weird /

 

//sometimes I think that too

 

but my parents tell me not to listen /

just work hard / they say

it is a better life here / not to waste.

 

 

come middle school / i’m doing well

/ but ask me about your favourite tv show / song on the radio /

i don’t know that stuff / makes me different

 

 

i started forcing my mum to make me sandwiches /

/ ham and cheese /boring / but normal

and i listened to a ‘beetle’s’ song /

 

//don’t know the hype

 

i find it strange / that i have! to know the spice girls

/ and how do you not know what a pavlova is?? /

but you do not even know / how to say my last name. / 熊 / no / it’s not that funny.

 

Now you are surprised / because I speak ‘impeccable english!’

/ And I must be just naturally good at maths /

I know many words now / serendipity / different / microaggression /

 

 

Now you fake tan / for the skin I wear

/ the same skin / you made fun of /

Draw eyeliner for / the slender cat eye

 

//the irony almost gets me

Now I miss my mother’s food / I will learn to cook my cuisine

/ I think it’s cool that I can say 我懂两种语言 / I am / stronger /

 

But I wish / I didn’t have to be.

National Poetry Day is today, 28 August. See the calendar of events for poetry near you.