Thrive Global

Community//June 22, 2018

Poetry: Time

Poet and activist Anya Thakur explores the magic and mystery of time, and how we shape it.

Anya Thakur, Teen Celebrity Journalist, UN Women Advocate, Thrive Film and Arts & Entertainment Editor

A Scholastic Art and Writing awards 2017-18 Gold Key winner selected from all works of poetry throughout the Southwest region.

‘Time’ is a poem written by 14-year-old poet and women’s advocate Anya Thakur. She works to empower and uplift communities as founder of GirlUp Dallas, a UN Women organization, and a MetoWe partner with ArtRising, which provides arts enrichment to underprivileged communities and creates diverse programming for South and East Asian women. Hosting education, self-defense, and language and literature classes to empower rural women in Delhi, Mumbai, and Munipur, and humanitarian efforts with Myna Mahila, which empowers women in rural India through health education, her women’s advocacy promotes UN Women’s mission to ensure a fair and equitable future, and she has traveled throughout the United States and India to speak for girl’s education and empowerment.

Time

they call me a thief

i’ve stolen away their loved ones

turned roses to dust

easily carried away by the wind

burnt cities to rubble and bone

turned eyes sheeny with tears

and that elusive, fleeting hope

to hurt and skies streaked with thunderstorms

painted in liquid shades of darker and darker

stripped declarations of love

to false, empty platitudes

so tell me, who am i?

_ _ _

you want to turn and twist me inside out

meld me, possess me

wrap me around your ribs and

protect the heartbeat thrumming inside of you

cloak yourself with the ghost of sun and moon

i am not spider webbing strings of pearls

and tiered diamond chokers

to drape artfully around your neck

or sugary pills and ambrosial nectar to swallow

i’ll turn you to cartilage and fractures

strip the skin from your back

and live to see you dead

– – –

i take as much as i give

i’ll be that unseen force that propels

you forward and holds your enemies back

pulling them under and choking out

their lives, letting their blood trickle out

and turn to a river of water and whiskey

that graces your lips

i’m not one you want to waste

i can give you worlds inside worlds

then the tide of the oceans, and even

have you fighting the wind itself

standing firm and tall

in sunshine and hurricanes

you’ll never have to bow again

– – –

— Published on June 22, 2018

Anya Thakur, Teen Celebrity Journalist, UN Women Advocate, Thrive Film and Arts & Entertainment Editor

Anya Thakur is an award-winning teen celebrity journalist and UN Women advocate. As a champion for the increased visibility of minorities, she is spearheading the mission to elevate women and diverse voices. In the Los Angeles Times and as the Women’s Voices Editor for Medium, Arts & Entertainment Editor for Arianna Huffington’s Thrive Global and an Arts & Entertainment journalist for LinkedIn, she celebrates and creates stories of impact and purpose.
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She uses her platform to increase the visibility of women in media, having profiled a host of game-changers from Malala Yousafzai to Oprah Winfrey, Nobel Prize winners and UN Global Goodwill Ambassadors.
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Her work has been nationally recognized by the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards and National Student Poets Program in Carnegie Hall and her poetry has won a National Gold Medal as the most outstanding in the nation.
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She works closely with the United Nations, UN Women, We Movement and the Jane Goodall Foundation to build a better future and empower girls globally.
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ShePower, a global organization she founded in partnership with MetoWe, hosts self-defense, and language and literature workshops to empower rural women in India such as in Delhi, Coimbatore, Mumbai, Manipur, and is active in the United States and Canada. She leads humanitarian efforts with Myna Mahila to create opportunities for women and girls. Her women's advocacy promotes UN Women's mission to empower women and eradicate inequality.
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As an advocate for UN Women and the first Indian teen to launch a UN Women campaign, she is honored to join the ranks of luminaries like Emma Watson and Angelina Jolie, known for both their body of work and their activism, and create a lasting legacy for this generation.
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Through championing women’s voices, Asian American representation and global change as among the nation’s youngest to be involved with the UN on a global level, she has found her voice and aspires to help every potential leader find their own.
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Contact: [email protected]

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