STEM Academy Poets – Devnashi Bhargava

By: Staff Writer

Recently, some students submitted their original poetry to an international writing

contest sponsored by the Young Writers, Remus House Publishing Company in the UK and were published in the 2021 anthology, Through their Eyes – Rhymes on Fire.

Devanshi Bhargava, grade 10, was awarded publication with her poem entitled, Fault.

Question: Devanshi, in relation to this poem, what motivates you as a writer?

Devanshi: Sometimes, when life gets just a little too overwhelming and I have too many thoughts or feelings that are difficult to be expressed, I always turn to the medium of writing to give myself a healthy outlet. Poetry in particular is typically a spur of the moment creation for me, a method I resort to when I am gripped by the need to get something out. It becomes like a diary almost, one for me to go back to later and reflect on the poetic elements I’ve already written down.

Question: Devanshi, can you give us some background on your poem?

Devanshi: Sure. I wrote Fault a year or so ago and I used a speaker whose head is in a rather bad place. Thus, the speaker portrays the self-expression of the types of bad feelings that people feel overwhelmed. The speaker reflects the emotions of teenagers. Even when people believe they have everything under control, it's difficult to break away from internalized thoughts of low self- esteem and expectations of perfection.

Question: Can you describe what it was like to find out that your poem got published?

Devanshi: Submitting the poem to the competition was a last-minute decision (as seen by me scrambling through the halls to submit it 5 minutes before the deadline), but I'm glad I did.  I couldn't believe it when I got the news that it would be included in a publication - I'm thrilled to know that other people will be reading it, and hopefully, they can begin to understand the teenage psyche (and maybe reflect on their own) afterward. I still write poems whenever I can, whenever the inspiration strikes me. Who knows? In the future, maybe I'll submit another one to some competition and make my voice heard even more.