The Activist that Books Built

 Hello! 

This is probably my favourite poem that I've written. It came about last year as the result of the murder of George Floyd and the protests that happened after it. I felt very helpless as a young person who didn't have much of a reach and who was also stuck in the UK and in lockdown. 

The murder of George Floyd made me so incredibly angry at the world and the way we think it's acceptable to treat people as a society. This anger at racism also made me angry at other injustices like homophobia, transphobia and the climate crisis (among others) and that anger resulted in this poem. 

This poem is the first one I ever shared publicly (I posted a video of me reading it online and over 2k people saw it!!) and I think is the best one I've written (so far!) 

Enjoy! and remember the words of our lord and saviour, Mr Harry Styles - Treat People With Kindness. 

People are often surprised

When they find out I’m only 20

They don’t understand how I can be so outspoken on issues of injustice

How I can care so much and so relentlessly

But 

The truth is  

Our world is burning

And I don’t just mean literally

Black transgender women are killed so often in the states that it’s been classed as a national epidemic

40% of children in Scotland spend some part of their life in poverty

Teenage girls are told their too short school skirts will distract their male teachers.

And yet you still question why I am so angry.

Our

World

Is

Burning

And I don’t just mean metaphorically

1 in 4 species on this planet are at risk of extinction

An estimated 3.6 billion people live in areas that are potentially water-scarce at least one month per year.

Scientists tell us we have a mere 10 years before irreversible climate change takes a hold

And yet you wonder why we fight so fiercely

 

My generation was raised on revolution

We grew up with The Hunger Games

The Maze Runner

The Mortal Instruments

Noughts and Crosses

And Divergent

You’ve been feeding us stories of children fighting back against their own governments since we first learnt how to read

You can’t tell me you’re surprised when we protest in your streets

our world is burning

our voices distorted in a sea of white noise

our lives being toyed with by politicians who treat our lives with the same respect that a child treats a toy that he’s bored with

you can’t turn my fiction into future and expect me to just ignore it

I’ve been preparing for this uprising since Katniss Everdeen stormed the capitol when I was 13

And I’m not saying we’re not terrified

I’m not saying that those same hands that hold up placards to the sky don’t tremble when no-one’s looking

But we

showed

up

So show up

And keep showing up because freedom isn’t freedom until all of us are free

Fire is catching.

Pay attention.

Follow me on Instagram 

Personal Account - @caitlinengland

Queer Education Account - @raisingqueervoices_