Sonoma County’s first Youth Poet Laureate speaks out on race, divisiveness

Can poetry help quell the chaos, the demonstrations spiraling out of control with looting and violence?

Zoya Ahmed, Sonoma County’s first Youth Poet Laureate, is hopeful it can, that poetry can help mend the divisiveness in America.

“Poetry gives us empathy and allows us to wear each other’s shoes,” Ahmed said. “And I will try my hardest to further the link between poetry and people so people can grasp the empathy they might be missing.”

The 17-year-old incoming senior at Maria Carrillo High School was selected from a pool of eight applicants by a panel of judges for the post. Ahmed was awarded $500 and will be able to publish a collection of her poems or spearhead a broader youth publication. The goal of the position is to raise the profile of poetry and develop its audience. During her one-year term, she’ll lead at least five workshops, most likely virtual events due to the pandemic. She said she wants to breathe life into poetry, embrace diversity and pay tribute to the classics.

Ahmed’s first public appearance will be at the California Poets in the Schools Virtual Poetry Symposium on June 26, 27 and 28 (cpits.org). The poet said she wants to inspire people her age to see poetry as a way to speak up and speak out.

“The message I want to get out about poetry is that it’s not something old and outdated,” she said. “Poetry is rich and vibrant and flexible and it can be molded to the purpose of the author.”

Poetry is a way to voice issues, Ahmed explained, and topics she explores as a poet include prejudice, privilege, education and climate change.

“I’m paying attention to everything happening in this charged period of time,” she said. “My heritage definitely gives me a unique perspective because South Asia has seen heroes like Gandhi who used nonviolence to free a nation. And personally my parents have seen, firsthand, the effects of such violence.”

This first-generation American, with roots in Pakistan and India, said poetry not only gives her purpose, it defines her.

“Poetry gives me confidence and allows me to be more than just a person,” Ahmed said. “It allows me to embrace my individuality and heritage. It gives me a story.”

Ahmed said her family is her muse and that the best poetry is born of struggle.When Ahmed was a toddler, she got her first glimpse of this strife. Her grandmother, Hajarah, then in her 50s, was studying for her U.S. citizenship test. She didn’t know the English language or American culture, and yet the result of the test would determine the rest of her life.

“I was 3 or 4 years old and I remember her sitting down in this small corner of the house with a bunch of crumpled up papers surrounding her,” Ahmed said. “And she seemed frustrated and fatigued, staring at those papers … And it hurt to see her that way.”

Ahmed’s life showed her a different kind of angst. Children of immigrants, she said, can’t always depend on their parents to help them navigate America because they’re learning how to navigate it themselves.

“Desi (South Asian) parents,” Ahmed said, “have to work five times harder to know what opportunities are available for their kids or how the college system works here.”

Poetry, it turns out, helped her bridge the gap and share her story. An original poem she wrote, “A Concerto of Spice,” gives a glimpse of her world with its unique blend - aromas from her Pakistani mother’s kitchen coupled with musical terms.

While the poet likes to share her heritage through the written word, it’s performing poetry that she finds most compelling.

“I have no shame in accepting that,” Ahmed said. “I especially love the laughter or sympathy you can get from the audience because it takes a lot to make your audience vulnerable. I love knowing I can do that. I can make people vulnerable, and it is amazing to see.”

Ahmed won the 2019 Sonoma County’s Poetry Out Loud recitation contest and later became a finalist in the California State Poetry Out Loud contest. She was also the first winner of the statewide Poetry Ourselves contest, competing against other POL countywide winners from around the state, each with an original poem.

Phyllis Meshulam, current Poet Laureate of Sonoma County, said, “Zoya Ahmed is a brilliant performer. Empowering a young person with a microphone to reach out and address the many special concerns that others of her age may experience is a very significant gift to the community.”

With many talents, Ahmed said she’s drawn to the sciences as well as the arts. She said she plans to become a cardiothoracic surgeon but she’ll always be a poet, following her father’s hybrid career.

Waseem Ahmed, both a doctor and a poet, is a geriatric doctor for the Santa Rosa VA Clinic. The poet taught his daughter, Urdu, the official language of Pakistan, which embraces the rich tradition of poetry called shayari.

“In poetry, words must come from the heart to touch hearts,” he said, adding poetry is in his daughter’s genes.

“I believe everyone has God’s gift that he or she can give to the world,” he said. “I believe poetry is the gift assigned to Zoya to deliver to the world.”