Blooming Moons: 2 Poems by Ariti Gani

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Confidence

“You’re so quiet!”

“Since when did you become so shy?”

“You need to speak up louder, please.”

These were the things she heard all day.

At school,

at home,

from her friends,

from her parents,

from her teachers,

from herself.

She pretended it didn’t bother her. She was a very polite person, a very nice person, even—but

in her head, she was LOUD. And bold. And marched to the beat of her own drum, without a

care about what others thought of her.

So she lived her life like this: always too careful, never a little casual.

But the one person in her life who understood?

Her mother.

Her mother was also this way in HER teenage years. It was almost uncanny how the two had

identical personalities, both of them longing to be heard but not wanting to raise their voice too

much.

She confided in her mother and wanted her to know that deep down, she would always have a

soft spot in her heart for her.

One day, she realized that she was done waiting for other people to write her story for her. So

she grabbed a pen and started writing, scribbling furiously on the paper as it bled with ink.

Bled with her bottled up emotions from all those years—

but even more than that—

her passion to regain control of the narrative.

Of her narrative.

When she was done, she tore the page away from the notebook, freeing it from being confined

for so long, and

walked

up

to

her mother.

As she handed her mother the story with a smile, she said, “I’ll try to be more confident.

Whether I succeed or not, the important thing is that I’ll try.”

And she did

Generational Trauma 

Do other people feel this too?

Having a special kind of spirit inside of you,

it is trapped but you don’t know how to let it out.

A panda,

like from the movie Turning Red

Your inner panda

Don’t cause any trouble, they say.

Keep your head down and work hard and try the best, they say.

Just be normal, they say.

So you try the best.

Or, your best, at least.

Am I breaking the stereotypes or upholding them?

Am I completely wrong in all my worries?

Am I an impostor in my own body?

What if you released the beast?

That caged creature that they say will be your downfall, like some

unspoken self-fulfilling prophecy?

What if it frees you?

With this panda, it will be unaccepted by some and come with consequences,

but it will also unlock doors

with endless possibilities

that you never would have known

about if

you just

stayed

normal

like you were supposed to.

From a tepui in Amazonia, great ancestors passed it down to

great grandmas passed it down to

grandmas passed it down to

mothers passed it down to me.

If you lined all the women of our family up in a row,

you would see that

we all have the

same dot,

placed on our forehead.

Is it a scar, marked from the very first establishment of patriarchy? Maybe.

Is it a hole, hinting at a longing for more that hasn’t been filled? Who knows.

Will it heal?

only time will tell.

When the year 3000

arrives

I hope the Jonas Brothers

were right

And my great-

great-

great-

granddaughter

really is doing fine.

With the power of Mother Gaia, I will break the cycle.

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With a 4.0 GPA, Ariti Gani is a motivated student who is passionate about advanced academics in the STEM discipline. She distinguishes herself in academics as well as in extracurricular activities. She published one poem “the Lost” in Bowling Green Daily News and was awarded the best poem winner. She was a champion of the veteran day essay competition. She won numerous awards including the Spelling Bee award, outstanding student award, Distinction degree in National Speech & Debate Association (NSDA) Honor Society, outstanding High school sophomore in Bowling Green Debate and Speech Team, Outstanding Freshman Award, Bowling Green High School Choirs, and outstanding student award. Ariti participated in many outreach activities including Science Olympiad, Teen Court, and Teen Advisory Board. She is currently looking forward to starting high school junior year in the fall of 2022 at Carol Martin Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science in Kentucky, Western Kentucky University, Kentucky’s first two-year residential STEM school for gifted and talented high school juniors and seniors.

Artist’s statement: I can’t remember the exact moment when I became drawn to poetry and its

mystic aura, but it feels like an old friend that I’ve known for forever. (Interestingly, I also can’t

remember how I met some of the closest friends I have.) I just write what I can down and say it

confidently.

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17 November 2022