{"product_id":"somebody-give-this-heart-a-pen-isbn-9781536222968","title":"Somebody Give This Heart a Pen","description":"\u003cb\u003eIn a powerful debut, rising star Sophia Thakur brings her spoken word performance to the page. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBe with yourself for a moment.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBe yourself for a moment.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eAirplane mode everything but yourself for a moment.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom acclaimed performance poet Sophia Thakur comes a stirring collection of coming-of-age poems exploring issues of identity, difference, perseverance, relationships, fear, loss, and joy. From youth to school to family life to falling in love and falling back out again—the poems draw on the author’s experience as a young mixed-race woman trying to make sense of a lonely and complicated world. With a strong narrative voice and emotional empathy, this is poetry that will resonate with all young people, whatever their background and whatever their dreams.In this debut collection first published in the UK, performance poet Thakur explores identity, family, loss, relationships, vulnerability, empowerment, and self-discovery. At once intimate and universal, aching and affirming, the poems examine the cycles of breaking, healing, and growth that shape people through young adulthood and beyond...An affecting poetry collection for all teens that deserves a spot in school and public libraries.\u003cbr\u003e—School Library Journal (starred review)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe torrent of Thakur’s spoken word poetry storms the page to flow, feed, and flood in this thunderous debut with broad reader appeal. Thakur, who is of Indian, Sri Lankan, and Gambian descent, offers a love letter to Black and brown readers that offers, at once, the intimacy of the self exposed and the universal power of story shared. A deluge of verse to dance in.\u003cbr\u003e—Kirkus Reviews\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis poetry collection, broken into five sections, mirrors generally the process of personal growth: grow, wait, break, and grow again. Woven into the collection are affirmations of Black girlhood, coping with breakups, reflecting on past hurt, and growing from old mistakes...It is this exploration that will resonate with teen readers who search for stanzas to narrate the intensity of their lives, and offer reprieve when it feels there is none.\u003cbr\u003e—Booklist\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn her debut poetry collection, Thakur explores love, family, and the challenges and joys of being a Black woman in contemporary Britain...The collection is most powerful in its odes to Black girlhood: “Little black girl, my heart thrives in the stride of your halo.” Offering particular nourishment for young Black women, this raw, heartfelt collection will resonate with all readers seeking a lyrical meditation on the journey to heal from heartache.\u003cbr\u003e—Publishers Weekly Online\u003cb\u003eSophia Thakur \u003c\/b\u003ehas been performing since the age of sixteen and has a wide reach across social media. She has presented two TED Talks and has worked closely with young people, sharing her poems and the creative process. This is her first published collection. She lives in Middlesex, England.\u003cb\u003e. . . the process\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Before place, before time. \u003cbr\u003e Before God separated the water from the skies. \u003cbr\u003e Before factories, before machines, before money, before screens. \u003cbr\u003e Before the internet, before iPhones. Before you and before me. \u003cbr\u003e It was vacant. \u003cbr\u003e And from this empty all there was to do was grow. \u003cbr\u003e And so we did. And then we waited. \u003cbr\u003e We waited to see how things would unfold. \u003cbr\u003e We listened to how many stories were told. \u003cbr\u003e We watched and saw how things could flow, \u003cbr\u003e how they could change \u003cbr\u003e and they could burn. \u003cbr\u003e How things got better while things got worse. \u003cbr\u003e So we began to pray and we learned to break. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e We broke to let the light in. Broke to let it out. \u003cbr\u003e Broke and waited for the right thing to fill tired skins out. \u003cbr\u003e We broke to break and broke to heal. Broke to feel alive \u003cbr\u003e and broke to just feel. Broke to humble and we broke to build. \u003cbr\u003e Broke to take. Broke to give. Broke to forget and broke to fix. \u003cbr\u003e From fixing we learned and from learning came life. \u003cbr\u003e Came reasons to go and more reasons to try. \u003cbr\u003e But more than that, from breaking we know that though \u003cbr\u003e we shed, we can always regrow. \u003cbr\u003e Always reseed. \u003cbr\u003e Always restart.\u003cbr\u003e This is the natural process of a heart.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e This book mirrors the process. \u003cbr\u003e The building, the breaking, the learning and recreating.\u003cbr\u003e Your skin turns inside out.\u003cbr\u003e Each limb becomes a heart.\u003cbr\u003e Bloody body parts across plain paper.\u003cbr\u003e Find some \u003ci\u003eI\u003c\/i\u003es to dot and \u003ci\u003eT\u003c\/i\u003es to cross \u003cbr\u003e until the mess resembles poetry.\u003cbr\u003e Read yourself between pages. \u003cbr\u003e Learn to speak heart.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003esugarcane is sweetest at its joint\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e if a child washes his hands, he may eat with kings \u003cbr\u003e it takes a village \u003cbr\u003eto raise a child\u003cbr\u003e wood already touched by f ire is not \u003cbr\u003ehard to set alight\u003cbr\u003e a wise man who knows proverbs \u003cbr\u003ecan reconcile all difficulties\u003cbr\u003e it is better to walk than curse the road\u003cbr\u003e medicine left in the bottle can’t help\u003cbr\u003e laugh at the end \u003cbr\u003e an axe does not cut down a tree by itself\u003cbr\u003e GROW\u003cbr\u003e if you can walk, you can dance; \u003cbr\u003eif you can talk, you can sing \u003cbr\u003e no one can uproot the tree which God has planted \u003cbr\u003e where you will sit when \u003cbr\u003eyou are old shows where you \u003cbr\u003e stood in youth\u003cbr\u003e when you stand with the blessings of your mother \u003cbr\u003eand God, it matters not who stands against you\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003edube    ñinilaa ni    fitiroo benta \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e the searcher for the shade will make the dusk\u003cbr\u003e other people’s wisdom \u003cbr\u003eprevents the king from \u003cbr\u003ebeing called a fool\u003cbr\u003e rising early makes the road short \u003cbr\u003e around a flowering tree there are many insects\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eSomebody Give This Heart a Pen\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Try it all at home.\u003cbr\u003e Try it at school\u003cbr\u003e At university\u003cbr\u003e In the office\u003cbr\u003e On the corner of the street that your father lives on,\u003cbr\u003e you never visit.\u003cbr\u003e Beneath your lover’s window\u003cbr\u003e next to the years you left there. \u003cbr\u003e In the shower\u003cbr\u003e to your song\u003cbr\u003e Inside the rain\u003cbr\u003e Under the sun\u003cbr\u003e Inside the night\u003cbr\u003e Between the days\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Try to find space to hear what your heart says\u003cbr\u003e Make it your best friend\u003cbr\u003e Slow down and clock back into yourself\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Give your heart a pen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePicking a Name\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Ignore those scared by your potential\u003cbr\u003e Those who snigger while you figure your path\u003cbr\u003e Ignore when they try to bring out the past in you\u003cbr\u003e What matters is not what you are called\u003cbr\u003e But what you answer to.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eRise to You\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e With every tomorrow \u003cbr\u003e and next time \u003cbr\u003e and one day \u003cbr\u003e and soon come\u003cbr\u003e the sun grows tired of our waiting,\u003cbr\u003e our excuses and entitled patience,\u003cbr\u003e our confidence in the second chance \u003cbr\u003e that forever holds us from taking one.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e What if one day the night never comes\u003cbr\u003e and the sun holds the sky hostage \u003cbr\u003e and\u003ci\u003e acted-upon aspirations\u003c\/i\u003e are the price to pay \u003cbr\u003e for night to ever come again? \u003cbr\u003e How many twenty-fours would it take \u003cbr\u003e to give action to these ideas? \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Pump action into you\u003cbr\u003e whether it’s making that call or making that plan \u003cbr\u003e the sun shines brightest on those who stand.","brand":"Candlewick","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48233564176613,"sku":"NP9781536222968","price":7.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781536222968.jpg?v=1767736915","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/somebody-give-this-heart-a-pen-isbn-9781536222968","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}