Hi everyone! Last Saturday was Oh Snap! YWP's Online Open Mic, hosted by LadyMidnight and I. I recorded the entire open mic so you can listen and watch everyone read if you missed it, or if you read and want to watch your performance. It was so nice to hear everyone read! Thank you to all the people who shared their poems (and a really cool short story from laurenm!). 
If you're interested in being in an open mic, please let me know and I'll coordinate another one. Should Oh Snap! be a series?!
I hope you all are well and having a good Wednesday!
-Iris

Hey guys, I'm trying to add you all to the group. I think this link will work: https://join.skype.com/invite/zhn1YHwNZh7K
 

Hi everyone! Here's Episode 4 of Line Break. This week I talked with EverlastingWaves about her poem, "Music," writing prompts, and reverse poetry. 
I hope you enjoy! 
-Iris 
 

if i was a stone arch,
that little stone in the center
who holds everything together
would collapse
under the weight of
all the pressure i feel.
 
in second grade,
i write. i make
up stories about families
with lots of children and pets,
who live in huge mansions,
while i look out the window
of our apartment waiting
for the kids to come home on the school bus.
 
in sixth grade,
i’m now two years ahead of
everyone else.
i’m fitting the homeschooler
stereotype of “omg ur 16 & u have a phd!!”
but the next year i start fifth grade-
a step back or the right stone to add to
the arch so it all balances perfectly?
 
eight grade now. absolutely the worst
time of anyone’s life.
tell me about someone who was
actually happy in eighth grade and
i’ll give you one of my kidneys.
some friends stay,
almost all are changing

Hi everyone! Here is Episode 3 of Line Break! This week I talked with LadyMidnight about her abecedarian poem, "Lost and Found," our clumsiest moments, stereotypes, and how awesome the YWP community is. We had a lot of fun recording and I hope you have a lot of fun listening!
-Iris
P.S. Try the abecedarian poetry challenge!
 

i shouldn’t like you.
every time we’re together,
i burn internally,
an inextinguishable flame
that grows and grows with
each moment,
an exponential enemy
that will not escape.
 
i really shouldn’t like you.
but when i leave you,
when we’re not together,
i feel pain like i never have before.
it’s the worst detachment that
could ever exist,
the worst form of loss
that only lives in my mind.
 
and i try to convince myself.
because, realistically,
i don’t need you.
i’m strong and
unique and i don’t have
to objectify something
to make myself feel more complete.
 
but.
i love you.
yes, i’ve said it,
and i really do love you.
despite what anyone says,
and despite what symptoms
can’t be explained because they’re
figments of a smothered explosion,
i still love you.    
 
 
 
 

it seems like the reprise of my life.
all these days i’m pouring out my feelings
into word documents,
with some fancy title.dox
hoping that maybe this sequence of syllables
is the right one,
and maybe this metaphor is the perfect metaphor
and maybe if i just write one more
line with no capital letters
everything in my life will be better.
 
so remedy this sadness-
here, press tab and create a new stanza
for people to analyze.
it’s supposed to be abstract but i think
i might be lying to myself when i said
my poems aren’t about you and how much
i wish you were mine.
i said they’re about emotions, to make
them more universal, to make them more subtle,
to make them less about teenager girl struggles
between pink or purple scrunchies and
crushes on boys who either live across the country
or don’t smile back when we make eye contact.
 

Hi everyone! Here is Episode 2 of Line Break. This week I spoke with Inkpaw about her poem, "Questions of a self considered poet," what makes a poet a poet, our favorite books, and driving as a teenager. I hope that you enjoy! Interested in being interviewed for Line Break? Message me!
- Iris
 

how have you hidden this time around?
i will steal the car from the garage if it means
i’ll find your key ring somewhere on church st
because if ever there was a portal to heaven
it surely would exist under leunig’s where
the cherry French toast trails under every door
and the first breath in heaven contains
oregano, because there’s nothing more
heavenly than food cooked with delight
and i’m positively sure i saw you once
in the dim light outside of the restaurant,
facing the corner and looking mysterious
because it’s not right for a saint
to look bored in any way.
i almost called out your name but
i’m certain you would have pretended to not know me.
your hand would have hovered over the
key ring, and the one silver key that
never fits in door locks, that you claim
is just for a diary,
must be for the door that humans
spend their lives trying to reach.

The long-awaited first episode of YWP's podcast, Line Break, is finally here! This week I joined IrishJayne and we discussed her poem, "A Reminder About The Boy You Love," physics, inspiration, and a little bit of Harry Potter. I hope you enjoy and let me know about any interest in participating in the podcast! Iris :)