The 2021 Hachette Australia Prize for Young Writers Poetry Winner - Jihad Yassine

Jihad Yassine's poem Box has been awarded The 2021 Hachette Australia Prize for Young Writers in the category of poetry. Yassine was presented with the award online at the National Young Writers Festival at a special event, and won a $500 cash prize, an exclusive book pack from Hachette Australia and acknowledgement of their winning entry in Express Media’s flagship publication Voiceworks.Read Yassine's winning piece below.

box

The clamouring of voices clashing and combining in this one small room we call home The context, long forgotten with the flow of emotion that is so twisted and contorted That the origin of its birth was tomorrow and its creation yesterday like a tree seed, a shell till its planted to life These emotions The whirlwind of identities and ideas Were born long before a reason for them was made A barrel of thoughts irrational and irrelevant to the world around Seeking a target for release of desire “You're not my son you're not my son” My father is dead and my mother is gone “It's your fault we live this way, it's your fault we live this way” The words of my mother will persist and persist Even till her skin has turned grey “You're a waste of air and it should be taken from you” You may be right but the truth is far from the words you speak “You avoid us because you're filled with hate” No i avoid you because i do not feel safe Like a snake eating its tail, there's no end to the repetition of poisonous traps Hissing in a pattern sending a blade down my spine This may be my home but i will never call this family mine Like a lone ‘pagan’ against the oncoming crusadersClutching my belief close to my ear Hearing it repeat its message Defying the onslaught of control Of control Of control What replaces an arrow that is fired from a bow A word shot from a mouth The words shot at me laced with poison Wearing down my self-esteem and what was described as ‘endless patience’ Creating a beehive of my sanity and stability “Harder, faster, smarter, quieter, louder, gentler, tougher, more, less” Running as fast I can from the fear of being caught by the weight of always being just shy of enough. This past This battle Of pagan against crusader Of being just too shy of reaching the cookie jar Is long gone Now my eyes are shining with the depth of a grave The cookie jar once just too far for me to reach Is now a centimeters away from being a light year too close The only difference is The only crusader is my fear of being enough The only pagan is my fear of not being enough Now there is no one left to keep me in check Except for the man on the moonA clump of Rock called beautiful with craters of protective abuse It reminds me that If we are not feed love and acceptance from a silver spoon We learn to lick it off a cold rusted knife Listen to Yassine read an excerpt of his piece and all of the other poetry shortlistees here.