talk so far yeah hope I don’t break the
streak and alright so I’ve come here
today with this book of mine and this
book holds a lot of poems quotes
passages I’ve written about stuff that
I’m passionate about but this book
obviously isn’t official yet hopefully
one day I’ll publish an actual book and
this book came to life when I was in
year 10 in English class we had to write
a speech for a public speaking
competition about the future and so I
called shotgun to go last so I can hear
what everyone else was saying you know
take a little bit from here and here and
then make my own speech but everyone’s
speeches spoke about the materialistic
stuff about future so advancements in
technology and gadgets in medicine but
no one really spoke about us as a
community us as humans us as a society
so I decided to write a poem called how
I see the future and so when I performed
that poem in class my teacher at the
time Miss Liz Keenan was very
encouraging she said it was really good
and it wasn’t easy to impress her and so
when I did I felt you know really good
about myself and so I started writing
and so because that was the poem that
got my journey started on writing in
general I want that to be the same poem
that gets me started today so here is
how I see the future how I see the
future no Wars no genocide no racism no
sexism no rape how I see the future when
little kids in Palestine don’t have to
wake up to the sound of bombs as their
alarm when kids in Africa don’t have to
walk miles and miles for water that
isn’t even clean when Arab kids in
Western countries don’t have to be
called terrorists because she was a
scarf around her header because he is
named after his prophet when black men
don’t have to get suspicion because they
have hoodies on their head how I see the
future when Trust is key when love is
real when families understand when we
learn to accept when judgment is unfound
when we’re taught all types of knowledge
when we’re taught to think rather than
to by heart when middle-eastern hands
don’t clench onto Middle Eastern fists
when Middle Eastern rocks aren’t thrown
onto Middle Eastern fields but rather
used as building blocks for the nation
when little kids who once scribbled on
their siblings old books now more the
finest of novels and poetry when little
kids who once played on the streets
barefoot now sport the newest of Nikes
and dribble the ball to the other side
of camp new when all of mankind arises
to unfold the past that has masked their
souls unafraid of the future and what it
holds perhaps its death for they have
seen love for they have lived so and
that was how I see the future and sorry
forgot to tell you guys but if you like
what you’re hearing during the poem
please feel free to snap okay and so
that was a little bit about how I got
started on poetry and my journey with it
but a little bit about myself is that
I’m 17 I’m part of the singles and
family and and Algerian being Algerian
makes me Arab and African at the same
time and that only means a very large
family most all long and large family I
speak of cousins actually I have about
52 first cousins around 70 ish second
cousins and we’re all very close and
when you have a large family that is
close like that
you get to hear a lot of stories about
your cousins and that’s why if you ever
have a conversation with me I will
definitely have a story about some
cousin and so I’ve seen my cousins go
through a lot of stuff in life I’ve seen
my cousin’s fall in love fall out of
love
so my cousins get married get divorced
have children struggle to have children
I’ve seen my cousin’s become super
successful in life I’ve seen them not
make it past the sixth grade I’ve seen
my cousins do amazing things with their
lives and I’ve seen them do so much bad
they ended up Six Feet Under
but obviously being 17 and part of the
singleton family the only thing that
stuck out was love and love and it’s
ways love and stuff that it does to
people love and how it makes you feel
and so I decided to write a series of
love poems and perhaps fortunately or
unfortunately the series is still going
and so I decided to choose three of
those poems and you know give them to
you guys today
and the thing is with these three poems
that they’re written about very
different things different types of love
different types of people and so you
guys have been giving post-its and pens
that you
Cher so what I want you to do after each
poem about 30 seconds break you write
down what each poem spoke to you about
and who reminded you of maybe a
significant other and X maybe a parent a
pet-food I don’t know and so we’ll do
that and then by the end of it I want
you guys to start conversations with a
complete stranger someone you don’t know
in the crowd because one thing that we
can all agree on is the desire to love
or be loved and so yeah and if you don’t
want to do that you can just either you
can stick it on our board over there for
TEDx youth so the first one is called my
favorite coffee mug I had always
wondered what true love tasted like it
was something that my buds had never
encountered before
I would wrap my hands around your neck
like my favorite coffee mug taking you
in one sip at a time wouldn’t remove it
no matter how heated we got after death
every night you’d bring me to life every
morning a few months in the flavor
diffused from your tongue onto mine love
was alcohol with no hangovers love was
the world with no guns love or
sandwiches without the crust love was
every dessert with just enough salt love
was uncrushed autumn leaves waiting at
your feet but some mornings you started
getting cold quicker some mornings you
would talk about how nice it would be to
take long walks on your own some
mornings you forgot to bring me to life
one morning your fingers met with mine
for reasons other than holding tight no
you were letting go became permanently
cold left me dead at night started
taking long walks on your own and
eventually you left me you left me
wondering if you’re the best love I’ll
receive you left me yearning for it you
left me hungover no autumn leaves a gun
that shot down my self-esteem you left
me with a thousand and one scars on my
sleeve sometime to write down what you
think that was about
okay so we move on the next one is
never celebrated Christmas never liked
the gifts on my birthday I was always
too picky nothing felt right never the
right color never the right texture
always too white a shade too dark often
too pink yet when handed hope with no
occasion just meeting you
hope felt different it was soft had a
warm heart hope calm me down
it made me hot chocolate on cold nights
hope led me through the dark a hope had
a squad diverse why did hung out with
love they were best friends you know it
were soulmates so strange that love was
so different
love was rough had sharp edges love let
me cigarettes on cold nights love love
the dark and so when there were no rays
of light to shed upon my life when you
didn’t smile the rest of the squad
showed up jealousy jealousy of other
friends attention giving it to other
friends owns being the other friends
ignore ignore your other friends unknown
unknown should be other friends but
let’s not forget love love the dark it
loved a party a party only its squad was
invited to because only so many people
can fit between the walls of four
chambers yes there were arteries veins
but nobody decided to leave when handed
hope it came in a white package not that
kind of white a little off-white more
like cream white mixed with the pink but
not like a hot pink more like a baby
pink unraveling it brought back pieces I
had lost trying to fix others hope flew
out was carried by my very veins Hope
ended the party but best friends never
leave each other see hope made sure love
got home safe make sure love was tucked
into bed tight hope made love hot
chocolate on cold nights hope kept love
warm
it led love through the dark should you
okay so the last one is called our own
type of love and it’s a quite short one
but I kind of liked it and we had our
own type of love I’m talking you’re all
I can see in a crowd I’m talking love so
hard it made us cry I’m talking no
talking let our bodies talk their minds
speak there are souls me I’m talking
late night taxi drive I’m talking
nothing existed but you and I you and I
now the love we had for each other we
had a wrong type of love but love that
made her hands interlocked so tight as
though it lay between our palms we were
too afraid to lose it the love the
brother so close we became one the love
that wasn’t blind the love that opened
our eyes open our minds our hearts our
souls the love they never felt wrong we
had our own type of love it was soft
needed to be kept between our palms
needed to be kept between the eyes of
you and I you were the better after my
good but what happens when the better
things die
I’m guessing even the best movies have
to come to an end right so and those
were the three last poems and like I
said you guys please start conversation
with someone you completely don’t know
and see where the conversation takes you
if you don’t want to do that feel free
to stick your post-its on a wall I hope
you guys enjoyed [Music]