Today a man, a woman,
and a child much younger than me
asked me who I wanted to be
I responded with – Is that really up to me?
They nodded their heads yes and walked away kicking dirt into their shoes.
I thought about it for the decade I spent walking home
The month I spent trying to catch a thought on the way
The years spent trying to get a pinch of an idea
By the time I got home I knew what I wanted to be… 

I want to be a lemon tree
but not so sour that people make faces when they taste
my personality, 

I want to be delicate,
But not too delicate I can’t go through punishment 

I want to be yellow
While all the other greens surround me,
But not so yellow as green can’t blend with yellow to make a unique color 

I want to be young
But not so young I can’t experience expressing myself with more than words I want to be everything
But not so everything I can’t be too much of something
I want to be me. That’s all!

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Editorial Note: In publishing 11-year old Kika’s poem, The Bangalore Review wishes to reiterate its belief in the young, that their dreams are possible and poetry makes it happen!

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Photo by Rodion Kutsaev on Unsplash

Kika Dhara-Garipuy

Kika Dhara-Garipuy is a shy but creatively inclined young writer who is currently 11 years old. In the age of identity politics she makes normality feel normal about being a child of her age. Being bi-lingual on occasion she writes in French as well. Kika published her first poem when she was about 7 years old in a children's magazine (inspired by the trauma of the 2016 presidential elections in the US of A). Kika lives in Brooklyn, New York with her cat (named Lilac) who is a scottish with folded ears! Kika is both French, and Indian by birth with grandparents in Paris, Corsica and India.