Poem for poetry contest

So my friend wrote a poem expressing her views towards media's attitudes towards Muslims and terrorism, she says she wants to put the poem forward for a loca, school competition but isn't sure about it and I thought I'd help her by posting it on here to see what you guys think about it.

NOT MY NAME

Alqaeda, Boko haram, Isis.
No, that's not my name.
A world wide crisis
Where all Muslims are labelled the same.
Terrorists.

What is a terrorist? What makes a terrorist?
I'm in need of a therapist,
A therapist I can ask my questions,
A therapist that will know all the answers to my questions,
What exactly makes a terrorist?
Is it the religion they are a part of?
Is is the country they are from?
Is it the race they are a part of?
Or is the culture they are from?
Is it the the way they are dressed?

All these questions are leaving me distressed.
Yet, the main question that we all ask ourselves,
Are all Muslims terrorists?
Muslims are starting to question themselves,
Does Islam promote terrorism?

NO,this is not my Islam,
These so called muslims teach how to hate and divide,
Islam, real Muslims teach how to love and unite
Not spread a message written in blood
Blood of their own people
Blood of their wives
Blood of their children
Blood of their families
Blood of their sisters
Blood of their brothers
Blood of their mothers
Blood of their fathers
The blood is starting to overflow
Starting to flood
Starting to flow through our once peaceful lands
Like a deadly snake, slithering swiftly through the land of dread and misery.

A sin is committed by those trying to spread Islam,
Yet they do nothing but repel people from Islam.
No, this is not my Islam.
No, this is not how to spread Islam.
Your Islam is Not My Islam.
My Islam is peace and unity...

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 1

Ameliarose201516

Lovely poem with very true arguments 👍🏻👍🏻

Reply 2

centurygothic

I like the poem and it gets the message across quite well. I especially like the repetition of "blood of" as it helps reinforce the message and it really makes you think. Personally I would isolate the word "terrorists" (line 5) on its own so it has a greater impact and then split the ideas into stanzas from there as having it all in one clunk makes the poem move very quickly whilst splitting into more stanzas will make the reader pause between ideas presented and really force them to consider what is being shown to them. Of course, that's just my opinion though. The content itself is not bad at all. Tell your friend it is a job well done!

PS: spotted a small error: "All these question are leaving me distressed." should say "questions", missing an "s" :wink: