Kim P Sami’s entry On Finding My Voice was highly commended in The Good Oil 2023 Writers’ Award, which has the aim of supporting and encouraging emerging and published writers.

On Finding my Voice

On Finding my Voice, I wonder:

Was my Voice somehow lost?

Did I lose her,

Leaving her forsaken?

Did I not care enough about her to keep her safe?

Did I even realise she was gone?

Was she lost in the cacophony of other voices,

Louder, more experienced, older?

Making her feel small, unimportant,

With nothing to offer?

Family, school, church –

Do what we tell you, we know better than you.

Do what we tell you, you’ll never go wrong!

Too young, too female, too different!

What could you possibly say that would be worth hearing?

Worth knowing?

Television, movies, social media, online content, books …

Voices, voices everywhere!

Which ones to drink?

Did I know I had a Voice?

Did I know I had a choice?

The Creator of me, of my Voice (and us all)

Was always with me.

Like a tree, taking time to grow,

The urgency to speak, be seen, known, to share, increasing.

Like the prophet Jeremiah, discouraged,

Yet couldn’t stay silent.

Like our First Nations people,

Voices stolen, ignored,

Can be silenced no longer.

Speaking with an authentic Voice,

We never speak alone.

United with the One,

And those who have gone before us,

With the prophets of old, of today,

Martin Luther King Junior,

Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop,

Jesus of Nazareth,

We gain the courage to speak,

In truth, for justice, for love’s sake …

Joined  with the spirit of this ancient land,

And the Uluru Statement from the Heart,

I pray: