Katmanlar: The Road to Becoming Your Own Person

Juveria Tabassum

The Black Book by Turkish author Orhan Pamuk asks if a person can ever be their own self. It has been a question I've been trying to answer all year, ever since I read the book. I don't think I've still been able to answer it, but, along the way, I have learnt a few lessons. 

I've learnt the importance of individuality. I've learnt exactly how each one of us is unique, and how none of us can ever be forced into a single category. Letting the society decide what you become, hinders your ingenuity. There is infinitely more to a person than what meets the eye. 

This is a poem that celebrates each one of our layers.

Katmanlar

You are more than just a body,

You are more than flesh and bone

You are bigger than how big your chest is-

Far greater than how tall you can grow

Don’t let parts reduce you by adjectives,

Don’t let colour kill your infinite shades,

Don’t try to fit inside a box; don’t hide back in closets,

Don’t become just a label- you’re not meant to be tagged.

You are not an object of desire,

You are not food waiting to be had

A beautiful, wild, tangible soul is what you are-

Lay bare your layers, do not hold back

Splash your wilderness across their dull imaginations,

Go, dazzle them with your Katmanlar.       

                                                                    

Katmanlar is Turkish for Layers.