This ‘Women’s Lives, Women’s Voices’ feature is written by Nasya Mc Jyn. Nasya is a poet and the upcoming new Welfare and Equality Officer at ATU Donegal. Women’s Collective Donegal first met Nasya last year at the Women of the World Seminar in Letterkenny, where she spoke of her experience of being born in Ireland with Nigerian heritage, her love for Donegal after moving to Letterkenny to study law and her passion for poetry.
Hello reader,
My name is Nasya Mc Jyn, and I am an Irish-Nigerian writer from County Louth but based in Donegal. A little bit about myself: I have a law degree and will be the Welfare and Equality Officer at ATU Donegal from the years 2025-2026. I have an obsession with vintage paintings, reading, and I got into writing at the age of 16, and have only really come out with my work in 2024. Which was both scary and exciting for me as a young person.
What got me into the world of literature would have probably been my father if I am being completely honest. He played a HUGE role in why I like reading and writing. When I was younger, I was quite literally forced to tag along and go to the library with my father and my sister; that was our weekly thing, which to me at the time was weekly torture, but alas, it slowly started to grow on me. We would have to choose a book and then we were given a week to read it and every now and then he would ask us what we were reading, what it was about, and what we had learned from it. At the time, it might have been annoying for me, but it has been a habit that I never really grew out of.
I continued reading by myself as I got older, entered every spelling bee as a child, read every required reading in class, and much more. My love for writing started to grow in secondary school when we were put into a position where we had to read something, but it did not just stop there; we had to analyse it, critique it, and think for ourselves. And that was when writing became a possibility for me. Inspired by the likes of Kate Mosse, Maya Angelou, Shakespeare, and Taylor Jenkins Reid, I decided to get on my school laptop and start writing.
The first draft I ever wrote was for my English teacher, and she gave me corrections that to this day I never let go of. I am currently writing a poetry book as well as my first novel, which sounds like mission impossible, but I am getting through it and learning so much as I go. Here I share with you two poems I have written.
The Tree
When I look out my window, I see a tree.
This tree is not a tree that commands attention,
She does not bear any fruit or flowers, but she is many shades of green.
She is tall in height, and her branches expand to a wide length.
And yet she is still a tree I walk past every day, a tree that I don’t notice,
A tree that I don’t bat an eye at,
Then one day, she managed to lure my eyes.
Colours of olive, sage, and forest green adorned the leaves that were attached to the branches that adorned her like clothing would a woman’s body.
The leaves her clothes,
The branches her bones,
The trunk her waist,
The roots, her legs.
At first glance, she blended in with her green counterparts,
Showing no signs of individuality until I fixed my gaze upon her,
And started to notice the radiant beauty of this tree.
Her beauty may be hidden and unnoticeable upon first glance, but upon further looking, she possesses a certain charm.
Vines climb up her body,
Crooked, parallel-shaped lines design her trunk, and leaves of all colours coat her branches like wings.
She stands in the way of the fields behind her,
Taking up as much space as she can so that when you look out the window,
Hers is the first face you see.
She is not a tree that commands attention but rather pleads for it.
When I look out my window, I see a tree, and when she looks through the window, she sees me.
Similar in spirit and yet physically different
When we look out the window, whether it be outside or in,
We see each other.
The Tree: Read by Nasya Mc Jyn at the 2024 Women of the World Seminar in Letterkenny
I Am Changing The Things I Cannot Accept
I’ve been told to accept the things I cannot change,
And have the courage to change things that I can,
But I choose to change the things I cannot accept.
Footprints of all those who chose to change what they could not accept
They are etched onto the ground, lying before me, grueling in nature and yet revolutionary.
The footprints of women who raised their arms to hold posters in protest
Beckoning to the ears of those who had chosen ignorance over equality.
Under the heel of the oppressor is a woman,
Defying the very heel intended to hold her down, and rising with double the strength.
Making her own mark and treads, shaping her own destiny, pushing her own rights
And owning her inheritance.
If not a heel, then a muzzle, used to silence her voice,
Intended to keep her quiet and still her dreams, wants, and desires,
Bring her most brightest of ideas to a halt.
Draining her of her light, bottling it, and shining it onto the opposite counterpart,
Her light, her glory, her right robbed.
But her hope is like a bird with feathers,
Ready to soar at any moment, if given a chance.
Her hope is not reliant on man,
It’s born from the twinkling look in her little one’s eye,
And her response is simply wanting more for her.
It’s born from the need to have her voice be heard regardless of whether she dwells in a world that doesn’t want to hear it.
It’s born from a yearning heart, for a foreign start.
A start which could bring prosperity, love, and joy.
It’s born from the longing to be seen and acknowledged
Considered an equal, considered a counterpart, and considered a worthy rival.
I choose to change the things I cannot accept,
I choose to tear the muzzle from my lips if it means the ends of the earth will hear me,
I choose to shine my light on others, not allowing anyone to steal it from me,
I choose to own the rights which are mine to begin with, and not allow the world to tell me otherwise,
I choose to make my own marks and treads in history, so that those in the future can follow.
Those who choose to change what they deem unacceptable know that their hearts are perfectly aligned.
With women from the past.
I Am Changing The Things I Cannot Accept: Read by Nasya Mc Jyn at the 2024 Women of the World Seminar in Letterkenny
WCI-Donegal are always looking for women to share their stories and looking for women to write features on topics of their choice which we will profile as part of our Women’s Lives, Women’s Voices’ series.
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