GUEST BLOG: 'SINGLE MUM'
A POEM BY AAH-YOUNG CHOI
Winner – Second Place of the 2016 Mosman Youth Awards in Literature
Photo by Katie Barrett
She tells me she is sorry
She apologised because I don’t have a dad
She sighs
She too is lonely but she says she is happy with me
I have a friend
She doesn’t, she works all the time for me.
I lost a friend.
Her mum told her I was unfortunate,
Capable of bad influence.
Mum tells me she is sorry.
She sighs
She steps on the ladder to grab the tools.
Her finger bleeds
I tell her I don’t need a desk
I go to school, they get picked up by their dads
I sigh
A desk awaits at home
And a bin full of tissues and an empty band aid box
I have no friends, they think I am sad.
They think my mum and I are unlucky.
Mum tells me she has everything in this world.
I tell her I have friends
I tell her I am happy
I tell her I am sorry
I sigh
Aah-Young Choi is in her last year at Pymble Ladies’ College, studying English, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Italian. Her background is South Korean.
Aah-Young was raised by a single mum and grew up looking up to this strong, independent woman. The adversities that her mum faced, however, did not go unnoticed by Aah-Young, sparking a passion for human rights and justice work. Her poem above is a manifestation of this and the belief she holds in that women are the strongest subjects in society.
Aah-Young has volunteered her time to various human rights projects and organisations in addition to founding her own organisation. Human Talk aims to provide a medium for people to discuss matters important to them. Currently, the organisation is working on the topic of women in society.
