Recently, Smithtown East Junior Aishani Kadiyala won second place in the Suffolk Youth Poetry Contest. She was later recognized on March 22nd at the Walt Whitman Birthplace State Historic Site. I had the opportunity to interview her on this amazing accomplishment, and what she had to say was very enlightening. To write the poem, she was inspired by resilience and growth. She focuses on how people carry strength even in the quiet moments. In regards to how long it took, she says it took a couple drafts over the course of a week to complete the final product. Poems can be intricate and delicate in nature, and they convey deep meanings. For Aishani’s poem, it reflects strength during struggle, and exemplifies that there is still a drive within people that makes us want to keep going. It describes strength as a power that gives us the feeling of freedom. I asked her how she felt when she found out she won the competition, and she felt very happy and grateful when she won. “I was excited that the poem resonated with others and that the words truly connected to them.” Her teacher, Mrs. Sommers, says it is no surprise Aishani won, describing her as an exceptional and hard working student. Congratulations to Aishani!

Read her winning poem below!

She always held the sparks.

Small, relentless—spilling from her hands

Into streets where no one walked;

They hit puddles, skimmed stone,

vanished into wind, into the corners

where nobody waited.

For a while, the sparks stayed hidden:

pressed into palms, tucked beneath ribs,

carried like contraband through quiet

rooms.

Still she kept moving—

past wilted blooms that used to make her

heart swell,

past rivers reflecting faces that

disappeared too fast,

past burdens too heavy for small

shoulders.

Her hands still lifted toward light—

gathering what flickered,

holding onto what endured.

Rain threaded her sleeves;

wind learned the shape of her name.

Branches bowed as she passed.

She endured the tempest:

winds that tried to bend her,

rain that clawed at her sleeves,

nights that whispered doubt.

And still she rose—

grown, uncontained,

a blaze bending the dark,

lighting every distance she traversed.

Her trail a flame—

and with every heartbeat, every stumble, every flicker,

she finally feels alive.