
mama, they asked for an artist’s statement
Why do I write? / Why do I do this to myself? How do I stop? / How can I stop?
Jasmine Kapadia is obsessed with lip gloss, Beyoncé and Rupaul’s Drag Race. She is a 17-year-old Asian American poet. Her work has appeared in Good Morning America, Kissing Dynamite and elsewhere. She’s a poetry editor for Indigo Literary Journal. Jasmine hopes to produce a chapbook of work and eventually a full-length book of poetry.
Olivia Gatwood, Rhiannon McGavin, Warsan Shire
Poetry
My poetry has always been deeply linked to my cultural identity, and the way my heritage shapes me as a person. Over the course of this year, I’ve been able to explore how my work is in conversation with not only other poets of colour, but also concepts that may not feel immediately poetry-adjacent, like soft survival or the Theory of a Young Girl.
Why do I write? / Why do I do this to myself? How do I stop? / How can I stop?
While I used to feel fractured when it came to my heritage, poetry has helped me realize that these fractures are, in fact, who I am.