By Shreya Kharidhi
19 | Atlanta, Georgia
Third-place young adult contest winner, Peace and Conflict category
With lines from “Art on the Front Lines of a Changing Sudan” by Antoaneta Roussi and Matteo Lonardi, a Pulitzer Center-supported story
A spray-painted corpse
by where decomposing bodies linger
there is what happened and there is the art
in an exhibition called War
in a morgue full of people
who did not dream of being martyrs
“anger” is written in Arabic
the dissatisfaction of ordinary people is written in revolution
he bravely wears a rainbow
and you ask
what is brave about that?
he knows the red on the wall is Karkadeh
tart hibiscus at a tea stand
he knows black is Agashe
the aroma of peanuts and the charcoal under spiced meat
he knows green is growth
instead of what grows
amidst death
Freedom, justice, peace, graffiti
do you know what I see?
the sky is falling down
but the kids are still painting
maybe they can
paint us a new one
Shreya is a student at the University of Georgia studying literature and cognitive science. She has written two poetry books and is always working on something artistic. To Shreya, creating art means taking the time to look at something and understand it enough to portray it in a new medium. Upon reading about the role of art as activism in Sudan, she was moved to learn more about Sudanese culture and to write this poem, which she hopes accurately captures the creative, resilient, and colorful spirit of Sudan.
Read more winning entries from the 2026 Fighting Words Poetry Contest