A touching poem about the uncertainties of life for a young asylum seeker has landed a Footscray pupil a national poetry prize.
Maryam Sathat Sobhani, 12, has won the ‘upper primary’ category in the Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards just a year after arriving in Australia from Iran.
Despite coming into contact with English less than two years ago, the grade 6 Footscray North Primary School pupil caught the judges’ attention with her winning poem
Me, a reflection on the uncertain sense of self for people displaced from their traditional homes.
Maryam’s family fled from Shiraz, in western Iran, home of the 13th century Persian poet Rumi.
“I like to write, I like to talk about my feelings,” says Maryam.
Her teacher, Thomas Hortop, says she is a bright child who drives herself to try new things.
“Her English has come on very well in such a short time and she works hard to improve it,” he said. “Maryam wrote 38 poems; it shows how driven she is to try her very best.”
THE POEM
Me
I wonder who I am?
Or where I am meant to be?
Or where I could be?
Or how to leave?
Or how to be a true person?
I wonder!
I wonder how I can fit in this world
Or how to be right?
But no one can answer my questions
But no one can answer my questions
