Winner: Nikolina Rokic, ‘Beautiful with a Question Mark’
Nikolina Roki’s poem ‘Beautiful with a Question Mark’ is the recipient of a 2020 Newcastle Poetry Competition Young People’s Prize.
Beautiful with a Question Mark
The daisy chain dips gently over your eye
It looks like a crown
A badge of honour worn like a halo
Listen I know your country’s history
Your arms yielded swords fighting for the stretch of skin over your stomach
Your legs ache from escaping the wildfire
Your thighs splashed with blood
An abandoned battlefield
The soil restless and upturned
Stretch marks are trenches where soldiers slept and prayed
Came from under the covers of your kneecaps to shoot bullets at your shins
Bruised knees remains of fallen empires
Razor bumps protesting for peace
Paper cuts the innocent civilians
And lemon juice is the bomb
Fingernails and eyelashes give handouts on street corners
I guess acne is socialist reform
Your body is what’s left after the war
There are blown up governments nestled in your brain
And your heart is a scrapyard for fighter planes and air-raid shelters
Please salute your veterans
But remember their violence wasn’t pretty
Their bloodshed a romantic novel
Or a self-insert fanfiction for your flashbacks
Look I’m just worried about you
You’re still beautiful
I don’t really mean the question mark
Nikolina Rokic, 15