A NOTE FROM ME
“Unitees was created to invite young people to add their powerful and unique voices to this urgent call for unity, acceptance, and understanding and I am confident we have found our leaders of tomorrow.”
School: North Herts College
Tee name: Word Play
Quote: Crosswords, not Cross Words
“I have been blown away by the thought creativity and innovation that our young people have shown throughout this competition. It was hard to choose a winner, because of how inspired I have been and am delighted that so many have entered this year.”
– Mike Haines
A NOTE FROM ME
"At Global Acts of Unity we use the power of words every day to help spread a message of unity, tolerance and understanding. Our national poetry competition asked young people to share their own words about what 'unity' means to them. With more than 2,400 poems submitted, the Global Acts of Unity team are astounded by the quality from across the country. Thank you to everyone for entering."
The winning poem was chosen by a panel of Mike Haines OBE, Founder of Global Acts of Unity; Imogen Russell Williams, Children’s book critic and poet; and British-Cypriot poet Anthony Anaxagorou.
Our backs stick to the bus seats
as we’re suspended midway.
Exasperation festers in the heat,
many-hued voices intermingling in the humidity.
“Yes, I’ll be late,”.
a woman grates as our gazes meet,
the briefest exchange of mouth twitches
acknowledging mutual discontent.
A man in his seventies, garbed in tweed,
simmering red,
rises, cane denting the gum-strewn floor.
“My granddaughter’s just been born!”
Flurries of applause,
contortions of lips in half-smiles
and back to screens.
A baby is wailing and
all look wearily out of the window as
a boy swings pendulum-like from
yellow handles.
At last, the engine revs,
wheels slapping
braising asphalt.
Two men joke in Polish,
thump each other on the back.
A woman mutters relief in Kurdish,
whilst a bunch of Spanish
tourists cheer from the deck above.
We arrive, descending onto the pavement,
and I watch as we disband,
London faces, never again to meet.
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