TWENTY-YEAR-OLD Ezikel David Alleyne on October 14, walked away with the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO’s) Youth Slam Climate Change poetry competition title.

Alleyne, a resident of Paradise, East Coast Demerara, delivered an impressive performance of his poem, ‘I speak for the trees’, at The Black Magenta on Camp Street, Georgetown.
In addition to being named the overall winner, Ezikel copped the Dr. Olato Sam Prize for the most inspiring poem.
In a recent interview with the Buzz, the young man revealed that his sister had showed him a flyer with the details of the competition and he later agreed to showcase his talent.
He later explained what his poem was about. “It’s titled, ‘I speak for the trees’, where I basically personified myself as a tree just thinking or imagining what trees would say, or how they would react,” he told Buzz.

He opined that humans have a bigger role to play in the preservation of the environment. Ezikel added that although we may feel like the government has a larger say in what happens, every human is responsible for the environment.

“I wanted everyone to feel pressured and to feel pointed out like I felt when I was writing the piece.”
Much like Dr. Suess’ story about the Lorax which deeply addresses the negative and positive impacts people have on the environment, Ezikel wanted to move the audience with his words and make them feel the way he did when he was writing the poem.
For him the competition was an enjoyable moment as he was surrounded by youths like himself who enjoyed literature and being expressive. His love of literature does not stop at poetry. He also writes short stories.

The competition was held to give youths a platform to express their opinions about climate change.