
Poetry for Peace Contest
The Poetry for Peace contest was held from 15 September until 14 October 2011. The winners were anounced at a ceremony at UN headquarters in New York.
Below is one of the contest entries.
NEVER AGAIN Every step I took, Everything in sight, Everything I heard, made these things ring in my head repeatedly. Never again, Never again should humanity stoop so low, so low innocent blood flow. Never again must a person look into the eyes of fellow men and say, a permanent long sleeve will look good on you, a permanent short sleeve will look good on you. Never again must ammunition instead of rain fall from the sky Never again must the earth swallow so many human lives Never again must humanity confirm the sex of an unborn child, by splitting the womb of a pregnant woman Never again must innocent brains be darkened so much that, Remorse, Forgiveness, Pity, and mercy could not be imprinted on them. Never again must new trees and seedlings fall, for an old one to thrive where it is not needed. Never again must royals turn into strangers in another land, because their land has become inhabitable Never again must it become difficult for humanity to feed, all because the land that brought forth food, Now brings forth explosives that, cuts short legs even cuts short life Never again, must parents become childless, children become orphans, friends and siblings become lonely, humanity wail, all because "who" is important to them has been taken away. Never again must humanity be set backward so many years, all because of greed, ambition, excuse my language, stupidity. Ever should: Humanity live like royals in their home, Humanity progress and not retrogress, Humanity live happily, freely and in harmony. Ever again should smiles beam all over the face of humanity. Never again should humanity face, War, Conflict, and unrest. Ever again! Ever again! Ever again must humanity, experience love, experience trust, Most importantly, experience PEACE! THE VOICE I close my eyes Then I open my ears wide I hear voices They rise as they draw closer and closer They get louder and louder as the stereo continuously increasing in volume Unlike like a mirage It tends to be very real And the echo is amazingly electrifying It spreads like a unique whirlwind From the mid to the oust From the oust to the mid From the front to the back From the back to the front The voices are deafening but sweet depending on where you stand Its deafening is you stand in front of it. (Covers ears) And sweet if you stand behind it (opens ears widely) If you listen from a distance, then maybe deafening but sweet Or sweet but deafening The echoes of the voices scream out only one thing Give us what we want! Give us our rights! Most importantly, give us our freedom! For we want to wake up with a tongue that can roll freely We want to step places without thinking if we stepped rightly Without thinking if we had stepped on a wrong toe For we want see opportunity in our future We want to have the belief that we can aspire to anything that is ethically and morally possible We want to believe that we can wake up and say to ourselves, 'We live in a world where all things are very possible' And we can but Only dream Stretch out our hands And reach for it (smiles) It is a dream some have proudly made a reality Some in the process of making real Some hope to make real And all believe will be real someday So all can live in a world of possibilities Blossom like the flowers in spring And grow to live a healthy fulfilling life. For just as the Freedom Ship set sail decades ago, So has the Voice Plane started to fly! And never looked back Leaving behind a fiery trail of Freedom A nice rosy scent of Freedom That burns and hopes to last forever (Pauses and wonders for a while) Will this voice(s) get out of hand? Will it ever be tamed? Let us wait and see how things eventually turn out Fingers crossed, We hope positive (smiles) It will forever be dubbed, "THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE" And you know what the old saying goes "THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE IS THE VOICE OF GOD" And the question beckons, Is it really, the case? (Smiles) Is it really? Good luck to all THE VOICES OF FREEDOM IN THE WORLD (CHAPEAU) YOU HUMAN, AM HUMAN Imagine you find a baby an abandoned and crying baby You then decide to take the child in and care for the child What will the child be like when he/she grows up? Imagine the child is of a different RACE ETHNICITY SOCIAL STANDING Imagine the psychology of the child How will the child behave when he/she grows up? The answer is You behave how you are raised You think how you are raised You even eat, walk, and talk how you are raised For in the end, You are human I am human We are human You don't get to decide where, how, when and even to whom you are born God only creates us to look and sound different God gave us a different colour BLACK IN-BETWEEN WHITE Because it will be BORING to see the same colour all the time In the end, We all live We all eat We all sleep And even if I may be excused 'We all go to pay our respect to the old lady' We all experience happiness and sorrow We all bleed red We all eventually die So once again And in good faith You are human I am human We are human. So we should learn to live together as ONE.
All Poems Submitted to the Contest
Helle van Aardeberg
Jaime Abbariao
Shereen Abbas
Marco Abbruscato
Paul Abellera
Midori Abe
Wendy Abreu
Kathlyn Acevedo
Sambidhan Acharya
Madison Acosta
Abeku Adams
Perry Addo
Deji Adefila
Kolawole Adepoju
Adjei Adjei-Baah
Nathaniel Adjei
Jailene Adorno
I.K Adusei
Israt Ahmed
Mahdia Ahmed
Ashley Ahn
Sajia Alaha Ahrar
Kwame Aidoo
Eva Akinvall
Emmanuel Monycol Akop
Elikplim Akorli
Seher Akram
Abdo Alawdi
Francesco Alberico
Eleni Alexiou
Hakim Alipoor
Faidon Alkinoos
Lynda Allen
Amberly Almonte
Chloé N. Amarantou
Seratul Ambia
Alwaz Amit
George Amoah
Parbattie Anant
Reasmeiy Angkor
Bengt Jerker Anstrin
Shadrack Appiah
Geetakshi Arora
Theodora Artas
Nana Asaase
Ahbab Ashraf
Omar Ashraf
Mariam Avetisyan
Stamatia Avramidis
Edmund Baffour Awuah
Volkan Aydinoglu
Wilson Amooro Ayinbangya
Natalia Ayres
Sayeef Azgar
Ayobayo J. Babade
Rohan Bader
Afsane Bahar
Kristina Bajic
Nenad Bakaj
Farhat Bakhsh
Mohamed Bakr
Adham Bakr
Anjicka Balaz
Rashawn Baldwin
Noemie Banaga
Ammar Banni
Isaac Barayev
Carlos Barbarito
Lucia Barbera
Matthew Barron
Sharon Bayantemur
Tyler Baylock
Ivan Bazyuk
Fouzia Begum
Hina Kehkashan Behleem
Dante Bellotta
Omar Benkerroum
Jim Bennett
Chéna Benson
Shanjeta Bhuiyan
Zlata Bogovic
Genesis Bonval
Sandra Botha
Antonio Boyd
Brandon
James Bridge
André Luis Bridi
Zachary Bright
Ximena Bringas
Katarzyna Brojakowska
Kimson Bryant
Mara Buck
Jimmy Budis
Omari Burns
Rania J Busada
Mark Bustos
Catherine C.
Kelly C.
Marvin C.
Ya Jing C.
Mac Campbell
Mark Carrillo
Tomás Ó Cárthaigh
Nicole Cayton
Daniel Celis
Ceridwen
Laurent Chaineux
Amanda Chan
Reon Chang
Mei Jun Chan
Clairie Chatzigianni
Dereck Chavez
Emmanuel Chekumbe
Jessy Chen
Yi-Hsin Chen
Henry Cheng
Yi Chen
Nabin Kumar Chhetri
Akeil Chin
Sarita Chitrapu
Virile Chittangsomboon
Ashley Cho
Prerana Choudhury
Maheen Chowdhury
Farhat Chowdhury
Tangila Chowdhury
Zahra Chowdhury
Jessica Chu
Jiakai Jeremy Chua
Mikaela C
Allison Hedge Coke
Zhane Constantino
Nasheem Cooper
Edwin M. Cordevilla
Laurie Corzett
Donald Crane
Courtney Crawford
Sophal Cresswell
Jose Cubillos
Katherine Cunalata
Elias Dafoe
Nubi Kayode Damilare
Adri Daniel
Enrico Danna
Stephen Larbi Darkoh
Thanaree Darncharnjitt
William Davis
Tatjana Debeljacki
Channell Decastro
Jaylene Delgado
Vivian Delgado
Brianna Dendy
Antoine Desrosiers
Kodjo Deynoo
Prakash Dhamala
Kyara Diaz
Julie A. Dickson
Fotios Dimitriadis
Chris Diz
Michella Domenici
Katherine Dominguez
Emmi Doumit
Kyle Du
Saiya Dumaran
Barbara Duong
Rosalis Duran
Smajil Durmisevic
Moinak Dutta
Melissa Echevarria
Aifuwa Edosomwan
Tanzina Eisha
Dzisam Antoine Elikem
Yaseer Elkhou
Rania Elmrini
Marwa Elnagar
Ahmed Elnawawy
Emmanuel Boakye-Yiadom
Robert Epstein
Bridgette Espinoza
Yenifer Estevez
Isabel Etchevarria
Cole Larry Eubanks
Maurizio Evangelista
Danielle Evans
Angelina F.
Ivandra Felix
Richard Fenner
Abonti Ferdous
Sandra Moreta & Brielle Ferguson
Genesis Fermin
Amber Fernandez
Christline Fernandez.
Cameron Ferrol
Serina Fields
Frank Fierro
Celia Finnimore
Jamie F
Indializ Flores
Aminata Fofana
Don Ford
Angie Forero
Raymond Foss
Georja Fotiou
Ilias Foukis
Michelle Frost
Jenny Funston
Zina Gacevic
Amina Gacevic
Clinton Gachangi
Georgina Galanis
Branco Gamarra
Vanessa Gapa
Giancarlo Frank & Corey Garcia
Michelle Garcia
Jelica Gavrilovic
Stephanie Geier
Selikem Geni
Eleni Georgiadis
Phillip Georgiou
Max Gerozissis
Nadia Ghulam
Petros Giannros
Anam Gill
Delicia Gilling
Imani Torres, Diane Dhanpatm, & Lacey F. Giordano
Sebastian Giraldo
Marianna Glyfada
Ana María González
Julia Gordon-Bramer
Damia Govia
Catherine Graham
Brindusa Luciana Grosu
Edwin Gruda
Michael Grullon
Viktorija Gudina
Tiffany Guerrero
Keanen Guzman
Debbie Guzzi
Julia H.
Yasmine Haddad
Katerina Hadjipavlis
Arif Hafeez
Laud Kweku Halm-Quartey
Nancy Hamill
Max Hamilton
Mohammad Hanif
Fatema Haque
David Harkness
Satenik Harutyunyan
Mohammed Hashas
Chicoat Helm
Maria Henriques
Michelle G. Hernandez
Patrick Hernandez
Tatianna Hernandez
Sheknah Hibbert
Charlax Hice
Kasim Hicks
Francina Saint Hilaire
Myaia Hodge
Robert Hodges
Hoi Hoi
Destiny Holley
Nazia Hossain
Jerome Howard
Irene Hu
Hendrick Hui
Shamael Husain
Usman Hussai
Jeremy Huynh
Aida I.
Mariam Ibrahim
Hassan Ibrahimi
Chinedu Jonathan Ichu
Victory Ike
Joice Im
Barsha Islam
Karina Iturralde
SK Iyer
Natalia J.
Justin Jacob
Jaden
Usha Jagdeo
Ishrat Jahan
Ariana Jailall
Lizeth Jaimez
Shalini Jairaj
Adrian Nour Jamal
Zeljka Vucinic Jambresic
Lydia Jamenya
Kuteara Jamison
Yerim Jee
Ricardo R. Jesus
Hua Jing
Annika Joeng
Olanihun Opeyemi Joe
Jesse Johnson
Avery Jonas
Adele Ogiér Jones
Dale Stokes Jordan
Kathleen Julia
Ivanka Juran
Jakub Jurski
Malik K.
Sabrina Kabir
Justyna Kadyszewska
Elhameh Kaghazchi
Ravi Karan Kakkar
Biuma Kalala
Vinko Kalinić
Alima Kanumilli
Ardi Kapeshnica
Ed Kaplan
Dhervi Kapoor
Eleni Kappa-Karasavvidou
Slimi Karim
Zavier Kaufman
Kamaljot Kaur
Sandeep Kaur
Wataru Kazui
Timothy Kelly
Jeton Kelmendi
Penn Kemp
Kawa Kerami
Joseph Keteku
Zoha Khalid
Takiya Khan
Hamed Khawary
Asif Khowaja
Shanil Khowaja
Christina Kim
Doyun Kim
Heajin Kim
Rebecca King
Uwandu Chinemerem Kingson
Fernando Kinoshita
Baris Kiralioglu
Julia Kitell
Gert W. Knop
Maja Kojcheva
Clara Kolinek
Patrick Kolodziej
Despina Kontaxis
Samuel Koranteng
Dubravko Korbus
Diakogeorgios Kosta
Katerina Kostaki
Katerina Kostaki
Vijaya Bhanu Kote
Dimitris P. Kraniotis
Sri Kriti
Olf Thomas Krumm
Kinga Kuczynski
Ayman Kuddus
Aarish Kumar
Hashela Kumarawansa
Helena Kurtezi
Girish Kute
Samantha Kwok
Cindy Kwok
Win Kyi
Anthony L.
Carter L.
Fletcher L.
Joey L.
Sasha L.
Serena L.
Hailey Lam
Alec Lam
Jessica (Yanyi) Lam
Laura LaMorta
Cristiana Lauri
Anna Lauria
Chris Law
Eric Law
Chris Lawrence
Christos N. Lazaropoulos
Kathleen Leach
Juliet Leech
W. M. Lewis
Patricia M. Lewis
Jurell Lews
Jennifer Li
Derek Li
Elaine Li
Katerina Ligoni
Shannon Lima
Ellen Birkett Lindeen
Helen Lin
Janice Lin
Mia Lipstick
Chris Lliguichuzhca
Erica Lliguichuzhca
Johan W Löfgren
Ryan Long
Alice Loor
Karla Loor
Lelsy Lopez
Catherine Lora
Ugo Love
Hamish Low
Karen Lui
Kylie Luu
Anthony M.
Duha M.
Winnie M.
Kanako Mabuchi
Winy W. Macheru
Eileen Maguire
Hasani Mahdi
Adhar Maheshwari
Grace Mahony
Kawamoto Maki
Sonia Manga
Lucy Manukyan
Qaqambile Q. Mapukata
Rafael Marin
Vikki Marshall
Elias Martes
Lani Martinez
Robert Masterson
Dusko Matas
Thandiwe Louise Matavire
Xavier Mateo
Sarah Mathai
K. K. Mathew
Matthew
Mehrdad Mazari
Rahid Mazumder
Hamida Mazumder
Kiara McDonald
Eileen McGrath
Grant D. McLeman
Patrick McManus
Johanna Medrano
Syeda Rumana Mehdi
Didi Mena
Paola Mendez
Ayaa Mesbah
Gero Miceli
Malvina Mileta
Leonidas Milonas
Chamanjit Minhas
Monserrat Mitchell
Mitsuki
Petros Mkheyan
Suhaila Mohideen
Gbrielle Mompalao
Eric Monda
George Monokrousos
Chelsea Morales
Veronica Morali
Ombuge Mose
Cristal Mota
Tamara Moultrie
Ijudmila Milena Mrsic
Tinashe Muchuri
Bernard Muhia
Aju Mukhopadhyay
Naosuke Mukoyama
Donna Lee Murphy
Olawuyi Mutiu
Dionne Muyalde
Walter Keyombe Muzembi
Joy Muthanje Mwaniki
Homaira Mysha
Denis N.
Majid Naficy
Fumiya Nagai
Siddharth Sunil Nair
Hisashi Nakamura
Sherwin Navarro
Michelle Negrete
Franklin Neira
Catherine Ng
Timo Nicolakis
David Kotei Nikoi
Lindsey Nkem
Patrick Adjei Nketia
Michael Nketiah
Nivedita N
Ayaka Nojiri
Matthew Nunez
Myles Nutifafa
Raphael Nwadike
Nana Nyarko
Mgcini Nyoni
Jordi Ochoa
Mark Odea
S. Senyo Ofori-Parku
Nana Agyemang Ofosu
Ifeanyi Ogbo
Rotimi Ogunjobi
Oluwafemi Jacob Ojo
Olaitan Victor Olatomide
Princess Olivera
Rafael Olivera
Adedayo Albert Olofinnika
Abikoye Oluwatoyosi Oluwatosin
Eddie Ombagi
Eoin O'Neill
Madelaine Ong
Oduor E. Oriko
Lea Ormandy
Daniel Ortega
Johana Lopez Osorio
Mari Ota
Adam Ouyang
Harry Owen
Neelima P
Kevin Padilla
Yam Padua
Carbin Palafox
Manuela Maria Pana
Demetrios Pandazis
Michael Panteloukas
Alex Papadopou
Isidora Papagiannakis
Anil Parbhudial
Stella Parthenis
Annamaria Pecoraro
Brianna Perez
Rama Krishna Perugu
Daniel Phillip
Anisah Pillay
Pamela Janet Rodríguez Piminchumo
Irene Pirovolikos
Peter Pitsakis
Marija Pogorlic
GJV Prasad
Mark Prime
Ronece Pringle
Pallavi Priyadarshini
Selena Prodromidou
Ivy Prosser
Jessica Puliafico
Nazanin Qaumi
Kate Quane
Amn Rahman
Thusme Rahman
Sakibur Rahman
Sumaia Rahman
Tanzina Rahman
Arun Prasad Raja
Rinzu Rajan
Devindra Ramadhar
Jane Smith Meme Ramapatel
T A Ramesh
Gerardo Ramirez
Jennylee Ramos
Glenda Ramos
Moraysha Ramsahai
Nicii Rashan
Carla Redondi
John Remillard
Richel Rennie
Christ Reymundi
Olivia Richards
Martin Rijntjes
Syeda Rithu
Abigail Rivera
Jason Rivera
Zulikha Roberts
Tristan Michael de Robillard
Danny Rodriguez
Jhovany Rodriguez
Diana Rodriguez
Edgardo Rodriguez
Chris Rojas
Kenny Rojas
Meshack Kipyego Rop
Yamelis Rosado
Lokesh Roy
Pinaki Roy
Stjepan Rozic
Danae Ruiz
Yassine Sabri
Jasper Sabuni
Walter William Safar
Sakib Safi
Gurjoj Sahota
Dinesh Sairam
Yukiko Sanada
Tomoki Sano
Ernesto P. Santiago
Ömer Sapanli
Lovro Saric
Minal Sarosh
Mohsin Sarwar
Simone Sawyers
Sofia Schmidt
Nicole Schweit
Iolanda Scripca
Ameza Selorm
Stella Seo
Brianna Serna
Mai Setoguchi
Archana Sharma
Rajat Sharma
Bayarjargal Shartolgoi
Fahredin Shehu
Norphel Sherpa
Akhter Shihab
Hiroki Shimomura
Shodai Shiota
Dhimitrios Shoshari
Komatsu Shota
Satis Shroff
S. Sideris
Charleston Silla
Anastasiya Sindyukova
Aishwarya Singaravelu
Ranveer Singh
Simran Singh
Soumya Sinha
Suhrab Sirat
Esther Slowley
Brinanna Monica Smalling
Jordan Smalls
Matthew F. Smith
Martin Smith
Myriam Solar
Michael Kwaku Kesse Somuah
Sarah Speziali
Uma Srikar
Bolaji St.Ramos
Stella Steinbach
Grace Stempel
Gabriela Stinson
Ellen Stoyanov
Jose Suarez
Shania Subhani
Maho Sugihara
Milica Sujica
JC Sullivan
Lina Sultana
Ian Sun
Esa Suomaa
Kevin Suriel
Brianna Sutherland
Judith Suzuki
Konstantinos Sventzouris
Felix Orisewike Sylvanus
Christina T.
Ryan T.
Momo Takahashi
Tasnuva I. Tamim
Alexander G. Tanaskidis
Helen Tang
Eduard Tara
Saqlain Tariq
Matthew Taylee
Christine Janz Taylor
Jogga Singh Teidy
Maria Tejeda
Jane Tekin
Princess Tensang
Yin Yin Thain
Swati Thakur
Bhuwan Thapaliya
Aung Zin Phyo Thein
Jan Theuninck
Kristy Thu
Tiffany Ting
Bekim Tocani
Nour Tohme
Reem Tohme
Falokun Tolulope
Kiani Torres
Abikoye Tosin
Georgia Tsamados
Tenzin Tsering
Vasiliki Tsitouridou
Spiro Tsoumpariotis
Mandy Moe Pwint Tu
Najma Tubssum
Jade Turbides
Mizuki Uozaki
Darleny Urena
Jael Uribe
Kevin Uzzle
Paul Valdivia
Emilce Vallejo
Brian Van
Seda Vardikyan
Alexandra Vassiliou
Julijana Velichkovska
Chryssa Velissariou
Aaron Anthony Vessup
Santa Vetturi
Bhooma Vikas
Connie Villon
Soraya Vivas
Sara R. Vogler
Duska Vrhovac
Djurdja Vukelic-Rozic
Surakij Vuthikornpant
Joshua W.
Hazel A Waite
Lesa R. Walker
Christina Wang
Judy Wang
Dechen Wangmo
Brendan Ward
Ed Warner
Theresa White
Morgan E. White
Jessica White
Andrew Whyte
Martha Reiser Williams
Sydnei Williams
Justus Williams
Christina Williams
Daashaun Williams
Donte Williams
Lindsay Williams
Katie Wu
Anson Wu
Linda Wu
Mendy Wu
Lin Xue
Jenny Xue
Zainab Y.
Yanique
Yeni Yi
Kolawole Adepoju Yinka
Joyce Yoo
Joanna Z.
Samantha Z.
Jawed Zafari
Daniel Zahzouhi
Kozi Zavalani
Jeffrey Zhang-Sun
Elona Zharku
Lediona Zharku
Janet Zheng
Mary Zhuo Ke
Verica Zivkovic
Caroline Zuba
Jakub Zuk
Mark Zurita
