I try to be Gazelle from Zootopia

This was a poem I scribbled behind my math notebook in the early hours of 14th November because I had to perform a meaningful poem for the students of my school, so I channeled my inner Gazelle and asked them to try everything.


1. I planned on writing a good poem,
Dark, deep and heavy,
But when time came, I ended up scribbling,
*sniffs* "He was biscuits but I was gravy"

Accepted that a great poem,
A good poem wasn't really my style,
Accepted that I had to work harder,
To be rupi kaur, I must work the extra mile

When my fingers lingered on the keyboard,
Before I began to type,
I realized I lost our imagination,
And the meaning of what it is to write.

I lost the ability, lost the gift
To see beauty in the little things,
In cherry blossoms, candy floss,
bees fluttering around in lazy spring

The moon doesn't entice me no more
The stars, they don't sing,
The butterflies don't live here anymore,
Nor resides here the passion to do something.

Everyday is the same old grind,
Every day is cut, copy, paste and rewind,
Adults try to make me happy or tell me things aren't "So bad",
But you forget that we're working through a chaos you never had.

We stopped reading, stopped writing,
Stopped doing things we love,
Stopping cooking, stopped skating,
"More important things" were placed up above.

Because why does it matter if you like to sing,
For it doesn't make a difference in the grand scheme of things,
Who cares, who cares if you like to dance,
Unless you've presented exceptional skills when you had the chance.

When people ask me what I like doing,
a list of things I'm good at is all I'll be saying
Because we're scared of judgement, scared of the scrutiny,
So we never give ourselves a chance to be free.

The issue with this generation and our "upbeat attitude",
Is this never ending war in our heads, the ever raging feud
Between doing what we love and doing what we're good at,
So that's why I'm here, for a little chat. 

I implore you, I urge you,
Go and set the kitchen on fire,
Maybe paint it when you're in there too,
Go fulfil your hearts' desires.

Shower the garden with the colors of light, 
I want you to break your knees playing football,
Why don't you try whatever is in sight,
It will be more than worth it in the long haul.

You don't need awards, medals, trophies,
You don't need people chanting your name,
Trust me, You don't have anyone to please,
Do things you love and change the rules of the game.

If you like what you do, you'll do good,
Don't worry if others have never understood,
This is your life, your time, you can write the future,
And god forbid anyone says anything, just hold a hand up, say "ok boomer"