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Thursday 20 April 2017

Katmanlar: The Road to Becoming Your Own Person


Juveria Tabassum


The Black Book by Turkish author Orhan Pamuk asks if a person can ever be their own self. It has been a question I've been trying to answer all year, ever since I read the book. I don't think I've still been able to answer it, but, along the way, I have learnt a few lessons. 

I've learnt the importance of individuality. I've learnt exactly how each one of us is unique, and how none of us can ever be forced into a single category. Letting the society decide what you become, hinders your ingenuity. There is infinitely more to a person than what meets the eye. 

This is a poem that celebrates each one of our layers.



Katmanlar


You are more than just a body,
You are more than flesh and bone
You are bigger than how big your chest is-
Far greater than how tall you can grow
Don’t let parts reduce you by adjectives,
Don’t let colour kill your infinite shades,
Don’t try to fit inside a box; don’t hide back in closets,
Don’t become just a label- you’re not meant to be tagged.
You are not an object of desire,
You are not food waiting to be had
A beautiful, wild, tangible soul is what you are-
Lay bare your layers, do not hold back
Splash your wilderness across their dull imaginations,
Go, dazzle them with your Katmanlar.       

                                                                    

Katmanlar is Turkish for Layers.

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