Being 13: Poetry Is What I Love

Who am I?

I am a little-brother teacher, a big-girl group leader.

I have the wisdom of a 35-year-old and even though I don’t show it, I know you must know.

I’m a caring daughter to my mother’s needs so I show I can achieve most anything.

Who am I?

I’m a cookie-wild girl in love with music in this world. I have a tendency to speak my mind and even though it comes out sloppy or with a slur, it’s still my words.

Who am I?

I’m Duresny Nemorin and that was a part of my poem, “Who Am I,” which basically describes me. I was born and raised in Miami, Fla., by my Haitian parents Marie and Dany Nemorin. Poetry is a big part of who I am. The poets who interest me the most are Emily Dickinson, Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes and Robert Frost. I used to wonder how poetry captivated me, but then I realized that music minus instrument = poetry. Most of the poems I wrote at the beginning of my 7th-grade year were about my crushes, but as the school year ended I started to write about how I thought of this world. Do I want to be a poet? I don’t know if I want to take that road in life. But poetry is what I love.

Another thing I love is music. Music is a big part of any 13-year-old’s life. Sometimes I can’t live without it. Some adults say it’s a racket, but our music explains our situation in a way that we ourselves cannot express. The dominant type of music I like is hip-hop, rap and R&B. Some of my favorites are: Ludacris, Mary J. Blige, Missy Elliott, LL Cool J, Trina, Outkast and Janet Jackson.

Media is a big part of any 13-year-old’s life too. When I think of media, I think of the red carpet and everyone that appears there. The person who inspires me the most is the comedienne/actress Mo’Nique. I love her style, her walk and how she thinks, which is outside the box. Now if students in my school could learn from her, there would be less discrimination. See, in my school I’m not now popular, but people know me for who I am–not for who I want to be. I try to keep everything equal by standing up for the geeks. I’m not saying I never made fun of anyone, but I try to keep everything equal just like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did. I even want to be a middle school teacher because the kids are not yet stubborn like high school students, and a teacher can still teach them what’s right and what’s wrong.

Other big parts of me are family, friends and religion. I am the middle child in a family with three kids. My older sister Dalourny got me into poetry, and my little brother Danley always reminds me that I’m still a kid, that I love to run around and watch cartoons. I look like both my mom and my dad, but as the days go on I’m acting like neither of them. I have no best friend, but I have lot of friends. If you ask them to describe me, they would say I am passionate, outrageous, crazy, friendly, annoying, hypnotic, responsible and wise.

So all you just read is me. I’m a unique and original 13 because of my values and how I think. At the moment, I don’t know if I’m ever going to change, but change is life.

This is one of five personal essays by 13-year-olds in this issue. For more first-person essays and pictures, go to time.com