The Flaws in Our Teen

By Randy Bentinck and Sasha Davis

The tears, the lies, the dramas... These are the Teenage Years. Sit back, relax and prepare your mind for a journey into the teenage years through a captivating poetry collection.

This collection will help you scratch that itch you have for good poetry and have you coming back for more. This book is the perfect read for someone who is going through puberty or simply anyone looking to relive or look back on their own experiences growing up as a teenager.

This isn't your typical poetry collection. It doesn't contain washed-up poetic metaphors, nor does it contain the usual dry and boring clichés. This is an engaging collection that was written by two poets who write from a place of sincerity.

There are poems that will coerce you to think deeply, empathise, smile, some will even draw a tear or two as you journey through these pages.

So, if you want to rethink what the term poetry really means, and immerse yourself in the role of a teenager or just wants to read some good poems, then simply click the buy now button now and grab your copy of 'The Flaws in Our Teen'.

• Language: English
• Publisher: FyaPublishing
• Release date: Jul 13, 2019
• ISBN: 9780999444542

Randy Bentinck

Randy Abubakar Bentinck is an emerging writer who is a graduate of the University of Guyana and the Burrowes School of Art. His work explores themes of love, loss, relationship, social issues and femininity. He writes from an intensely personal place, but his work is still relatable. His Literature teacher in High School, Mr Sobers, sparked his love for poetry. His recital of Michael Smith’s ‘Mi cyaan Believe it.’ made Bentinck fell in love with this art form instantly. Bentinck is a real Artist in every sense of the term. As an Actor, he was very active in the theatre scene in Guyana during the 90s where he acted in many major productions at the Theatre Guild of Guyana and the National Cultural Center. He also recited poetry at several places around the country. As a Visual Artist, he has been a part of several Art Shows, Art Competitions and National Exhibitions. His work represented Guyana at Carifesta IX, held in Trinidad and Tobago in 2006. He has been very active in sports and youth development. He was the chaperone for a youth contingent from Guyana for the first Habitat for Humanity Caribbean Youth Build held in 2000. For more work from r.A.bentinck, please visit his website: www.randybentinck.com. Bentinck is originally from the county of Berbice in Guyana but spent most of his adult life in the capital Georgetown. He presently resides in The Bahamas where he is an Art Educator.

Book preview

The Flaws

In

Our Teen

An Unfiltered Look at the Teenage Years Through Poetry.

Sasha Davis

And

R. A. Bentinck

FYAPUBLISHING | GEORGETOWN

Copyright © 2019 by Sasha Davis and r. A. bentinck

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.

FyaPublishing

95 South Turkeyen,

Georgetown, Guyana.

The Flaws in Our Teen/ Sasha Davis and r. A.. .bentinck.

ISBN 978-0-9994445-4-2

Cover design by r. A. bentinck

Cover image by Alfred Anderson

To all teenagers

When you are in your teenage years you are consciously experiencing everything for the first time, so adolescent stories are all beginnings. There are never any endings.

—Aidan Chambers

Contents

Preface

The Faults in Our Teen

Pimples Paradise (hormonal imbalances)

Individual

Stunned

Bogeyman

The Juvenile in Me

Memory

Sneak Away

A Love Lost

The New Girl

Pain

The Bully’s Toy

None

My First Joint

I Miss Him

Cindy

Sixteen

Someday-Ms Impatient

Ugly

The Emotional Rollercoaster

You Don’t Know Her

Conversations with a Young Girl

I Wasn't Her

The It Girl

Heartache

The Juggler

Drowning

Memories of Mommy

Thoughts

Asking for a Friend

Nobody

Isolation

Consumed

The First Time

Women’s Day

Crush on You

I Loved You

Falling for Love Again

One More Chance

The Sari Princess

Who Am I?

A Life Time

Load

The Melanin Princess  (for Sasha)

Imagination

Swimming Lessons

Hurt

Touched (for that young girl)

R.A.P.E.

The Sleep Over

Loss

The Clique

Invisible

Fitting In

Definition

Meet My New Friend

Melanin Princess

Run Away

This Broken Feelings

Do You Know?

Longing

The Crush

Closed Chapter

Curfew

Walk Into Love

Coldness

After School

Fading Away

The Guidance Councellor

Sky

The Cougar

Letting Go

Cleaning Out the Fridge

Key

My Whereabouts

Strings Attached

I Made Her That Way

Love Definitions

Girl Trouble

Stay

Daddy

Pain

Light it Up

This is the Best of My Heart

Heartbeat

Exhaustion

Flawless

Growth

My Best Friends

Girl

Changes

Wilted Patch

Miss

Someone New

I Can’t Wait

Look How She Dances for Me

Stress-Free Life

What is Passion

Half Dead

Wavelengths

I’m different

Labels

Slut

Anger Management

Who are You?

Arrested

Wilted Patch

First Love

Teenage Years

Pressures

Growth

Growth Spurts

Messed Up

Loss

Twin Tale: Mary’s Story

Objects

Contradictions

Power

Expectations

Wanderer

Dictatorship

Untitled

You Were Here Before?  (to our parents)

Suicidal

The Poet

The Fashion Police

Lessons

The Outcast

Report Card Days

Accidents

Invisible

Outspoken Outlet

Survivors

About the Authors

Preface

Adults and experts seem to think that they know the answers to the struggles of the teenage years. Yet teenagers are still struggling every day. With all the research done and all the advice that is given the battle is real, some teenagers seem to make it out with a few scars that heal over time while others spend their adult life recouping and coping with scars that refuse to heal.

The Flaws in Our Teen is a collection of poetry and prose by Sasha Davis and r. A. bentinck that explore the challenges of the juvenile years through the eyes of one who is still living the teenage reality (Sasha Davis is in the prime of her adolescent years.) and r. A. bentinck (who is in the prime of his adult life) looking back on his teenage experiences.

What is evident in this collection, despite the age and gender differences of the writers is the fact that though the times have change the challenges remain virtually the same.

Teens still find it difficult to cope with fundamental teenage problems: self-esteem and body image, stress, bullying, depression, drinking and smoking, teen pregnancy, underage sex, defiant behaviours and in contemporary society, cyber addiction, pornography and cyberbullying.

This collection has a wide variety of pieces that touch on a plethora of teenage issues, whether you are a contemporary teen who is living through these challenges at the moment or you are an adult in the retrospective mode you will be able to relate to this engaging collection.

Davis and Bentinck first met in 2013 at Bishop Michael Eldon School in Freeport Bahamas where Bentinck was the Art and Design teacher and Davis was a student of his for four years. They shared a love for poetry and writing and shared their work with each other over a period of time. It is in that sharing process that Bentinck encouraged Davis to share her work in this collaborative experience and after years of persuasion, Sasha finally relented thus giving birth to this poetry collection.

Davis and Bentinck must be commended for a job well done in putting this collection together. Your time spent reading this book will be rewarding and satisfying. Do enjoy.

The Faults in Our Teen

By Sasha Davis

icover my flaws with snap filters,

i hide my emotions through

Drake’s lyrics.

i empathise with lonely quotes,

i run away from tricky dealings.

the sound of commitment causes me

to shut myself away.

arrows of betrayal have pierced my heart

and agony has flooded my system.

i’ve been abused and mistreated under

a system