Freedom: Slam Poetry

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Inspired by the poem “ Where the mind is without fear” by Rabindranath Tagore, our 7th graders were asked to share what freedom means to each one of them in their current context and to write slam poetry in pairs/small groups.

Freedom

By Antara Agarwal, Prerana Deepak

  • I have a life, the free say.
  • But what exactly does that entail?
  • Is it the ability to walk down the road,
  • and being promised safety?
  • But how does one stay free from harm,
  • When rebels lurk in the shadows.
    • I stare at the ocean tide,
    • Waves roaring wild.
    • Are those free?
    • Or are they simply blissfully unaware
    • Of the forces that bound their flowing seas
  • I watch the birds soaring high,
  • Their wings unfurled.
  • Have they achieved freedom?
  • Or do the winds carry their weight
  • To the very ends of the world.
  • Protesters march down the street,
  • Yelling with all their might.
  • Soldiers standing at guard,
  • But nothing seems to give them a fright
  • Are they free?
  • Or affixed by the consequences of unrestrained speech?
    • I spend all my time wondering
    • What freedom really is
    • Are my thoughts even my own?
    • Or merely an echo chamber,
    • Mirroring how society has taught me to be
  • Even if the unseen forces don’t control me
  • Even if the winds don’t guide me.
  • Am I ever free from the person I once used to be?
  • Or will my past always follow me around?
  • Can the guards that have bounded me for so long,
  • Ever truly let me be free?
  • Ever truly let anyone be free?

I am Free

By Madhulika Vinod and Aanya Sinha

  • I feel like a bird trapped in a cage,
  • Like a mere puppet,
  • I do what I’m told,
  • And face eyes that are cold, Suddenly, I open my wings and face the world,
  • I start to fly, as free as a bird,
  • I soar across the sky,
  • Dreaming of all the things that I can try,

  • I am free.

  • When I share my feelings,
  • Trying not to be too concealing,
  • I realize that I’m slowly healing,
  • I start to feel safer,
  • As I put my thoughts down on paper,
  • I can express myself without getting judged,
  • I was able to do this with a nudge,

  • I have been dreaming for long,
  • Not thinking about whether it’s right or wrong,
  • I have been told,
  • Now I finally can budge,

  • I am free.
  • By many a scold,
  • About what I should do,
  • I know their words are not true. I know how I should be,
  • Now I can finally break free,
  • Without worrying, without hurrying,
  • Finally now,
  • Without a doubt,

  • I am free.

Freedom

By Vanya Nath and Pranoy Mathur

  • Water tastes like freedom
  • It flows as it wishes, 
  • Caring not if it’s welcome
  • Following its own path

  • Trapped by oppressive forces
  • Be it whether another or yourself 
  • Struggling to find the source
  • Trying to break free

  • Overflowing with emotions
  • It can’t be contained
  • Held back by devotion
  • Wishing to dissipate

  • When water reaches its peak
  • It comes crashing down
  • Dousing in the bleak
  • Everyone’s fire blowing it out

  • One drop in a vast ocean
  • A small ripple of hope
  • Deciding to take our own decision
  • A tsunami, behold

  • Following the path of the meander
  • Create your own branch
  • Life will seem grandeur
  • After a canal, you define

  • Help others through
  • With your own stream
  • Let this be a clue
  • Now no one constraints you

What is Freedom?

By Rehan Tarafdar and Vittal Iyengar

  • Freedom is imagination
  • Soaring through dusty skies
  • Away from this pack of pain and lies
  • Freedom is remembering
  • Running through fields of green
  • Remembering the things we’ve seen
  • The places we’ve been
  • Freedom is whims and choices
  • Doing as we please
  • No matter how wrong or right it seems
  • Freedom is comfort
  • To be with those who love thee
  • To be forever happy
  • Freedom is in knowing
  • Death will come when it wants
  • But freedom is a noble cause
  • For you, for I, for me

Freedom

By Tara Srinivasan, Tanvi Reddy, Nikhita Uthaiah, Pragyaa Kumar

  • Freedom is the fantasy of an idealistic world,
  • Where we have the power to have our voices heard,
  • Freedom to follow our own chosen paths, 
  • Only for the maps to be predetermined, it will end in wrath.

  • But if true freedom was a reality,
  • We wouldn’t have to live in formality,
  • But no…
  • Fire here and smoke there
  • Chaos reigning everywhere
  • Ashes clogging up minds
  • This overwhelming freedom, leaving us blind

Freedom

By Dhanya Rai, Meher Prateek Sinha, Smrithi Vijaykumar, Varshini Radha Srinivas

  • Freedom.
  • What does it mean?

  • What comes to your mind?
  • Is it a bird in the sky?
  • Or something soaring high?

  • Is it joy?
  • Does it just mean you have a voice?
  • Is it being able to make your own choice?

  • Or maybe it’s a cagless dove.
  • Being able to do what you love.
  • The start of a golden age
  • Let out of its cage.
  • All of your anger and rage
  • Splayed on more than just one page

  • Nothing to hide
  • No reason to lie
  • Let loose your mind
  • Like a bird without its wings tied

  • Freedom.
  • What does it mean?

Freedom

By Aabir Kapoor, Raahil Gore, Sarthak Goyal, Nihal Verghese

  • There is nothing on the other side

  • The door is open,
  • But nothing on the other side,
  • No place to run,
  • No place to hide,

  • Nothing on the other side,
  • But the cruel reality,
  • The world has changed,
  • And we are trapped.

  • Nothing on the other side,
  • But, a world of torture.
  • Nothing to look in the future,
  • Through the open door
Freedom: Slam Poetry
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