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ALL POSTS
Feb 06
visual/photos/art challenge: Teenager
Amelia_v

split down the middle


 
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Posted: 02.06.23
Feb 06
poem challenge: Teenager
Amelia_v

When you are a girl


When you are a girl
     
The world wants so much from you
                   The world tugs and pulls,
Making it hard

Do I look too fat in this dress,
does this skirt make me look short?
   Or is it not long enough?
          
              The dude who keeps looking my way,
is the opposite of ok.

He makes my skin crawl,
   when he looks at me like I am a chocolate bar.
Instead of a girl just trying to get through today.

   When you are a girl,
you have so much to prove,

your not always fine just the way you are,
even if your mom loves you.

that does not mean the world will,
   that does not mean you don't look behind you when walking alone

and wish you knew combat skills.

    When you wished you had an older brother who pushed you,
or even a sister who showed you the ways of the world.
Read More
Posted: 02.06.23
Feb 06
poem
ZoeBee

Wonder Bread/Sourdough

Last month
Someone told me
"You know Zoe,
you're not a very nice girl."
I asked for more information
It was quite a terrible accusation
They said I wasn't unkind
I wasn't unpleasant
I wasn't untrue
I just wasn't a nice girl
It struck a chord in me because
I've spent my whole life trying to be nice
The Wonder Bread of a woman
Soft
Sweet
Dull
Unpleasant when paired with lettuce
I don't want to be forgettable, but certainly not someone to be remembered
And it turned out, I was a complete failure
I've failed at a lot of things in my life
Basketball, softball, soccer, tennis, consistency with book clubs, knitting, interpretive dance, ventriliquism, a promising in career in scones
But a failure to complete the basic tenets of womanhood was not on my 2023 bingo card
Too was the word he used to sum it up
Read More
Posted: 02.06.23
Feb 06
poem
ZoeBee

Trying to get over writer's block

I cannot write
That is called a blockage
It's also hard to speak right now and 
That is called a talkage
I wished upon a star last night
That's what I'd call hope
And then watched it burst into flame
I think your God said nope
 
Read More
Posted: 02.06.23
Feb 06
poem
Amelia_v

Slow mow

My head is overflowing,
All of everything I have ever said,
Spilling through my seems,
The stitches snapping,
But in slow mo.



 
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Posted: 02.06.23
Feb 06
poem challenge: Hot or Cold
Summit House-WCS's picture
Summit House-WCS

Cold is Better

Hot or Cold

Honestly I like cold better,

It allows you to snuggle up in blankets, watching movies all day(on the weekends)

Cold means snow, snowmen, and snow forts.

Cold means winter wonderlands, trees covered in snow.

Heed the blizzards though, no need for frostbite.

Cold means Christmas, a time of merry revelry.

Cold means snow storms ,whether it be packy, powdery, or icy.

Cold means snowball fights, snowball hurtling past you as you dodge and weave to avoid being hit.

Hot is bad, hot means sweating, sitting in the chair, fanning yourself to keep cool.

Hot means heat warnings, so you can’t play outside.

Hot means sweating so much you get dehydrated.

You cannot do much about being hot, and even if you can it is not much.

Cold means sledding.

Going over jumps as you hurtle headlong down a hill.

Getting 2 feet of air.
Read More
Posted: 02.06.23
Feb 06
poem
ZoeBee

Roadmaps II

Yes, I know your hands like roadmaps
Your eyes, banded and shadowed as Jupiter
Earth and Mars lying somewhere far behind them and my hands woven between yours
I know the slope of your shoulder like the feel of my well-worn bansiter
The dip of your collarbone like the topography of my bedstand
The contour of your fingerprints like how I know my own breath at night
I know your footsteps, I have heard them in desolate supermarket aisles and the crackling of pine needles on the forest floor and the smooth jazz my father falls asleep to
Trick question, your voice is a baptism from city smog, railroad tracks make you nervous and ravens are terrible liars
Left. When in doubt, skew left
I know your fingertips like monks know the chase of peace, as cows know rain, as a grandmother's knees know when a storm is rolling in
Have I proved my worth to you?
Is it enough to know your hands like roadmaps
 
Read More
Posted: 02.06.23
Feb 05
poem challenge: Teenager
elise.writer

Winter and Summer

The cold, its tendrils of wind
like fingers wrapping my coarse being,
the snow, like needles prickling my skin.

The warmth, its blossoming beauty
like a flower in May, the sun is kneaded
in my tender hands to become
strong and bright.

The warmth rises from within me
and shines, and the cold nods away
into dusk, awaiting. I exist beside
the fingers of icy breeze, but let my
inner warmth and light push any darkness
away from seeping inside of me, radiating,
pushing with soft rays of yellow light.

I am a vivid, beautiful light in the seamless
dark that I allow to surround me, yet
never engulfing me. I am whole.
Read More
Posted: 02.05.23
Feb 05
fiction challenge: Sentence Completing No. 16
Summit House-WCS's picture
Summit House-WCS

Flower crown

     The village was quiet, any remaining voices reduced to a soft lull as the sun set over the vast multicolor hills on the horizon. The cobblestone streets were washed in orange-gold light, tall shacks casting shadows into the alleys between houses. It was a beautiful day, the closest to a clear sky in weeks. I couldn’t fault the weather, the wet season will happen whether anyone likes it or not. And the clouds were stark white—soft looking, like sugar—so I couldn’t complain about that either.
And what I really couldn’t complain about was being with Romeo. I was lucky to have him here for the day—the whole day—usually I’m lucky to see that man for a couple of hours, at best, with how busy he is. But I wouldn’t think about that, not when we’re sitting together under the warm sun on a soft blanket, watching it set.
Read More
Posted: 02.05.23
Feb 05
visual/photos/art
EvieC

Yelling Out Our Dreams


 
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Posted: 02.05.23
Feb 05
poem challenge: Teenager
rishi_jraman256

headphone escapism

i felt the mascara
 run down like broken fountain pens
like trauma we wish to forget—
    but patterns the psyche like bloodstains
    on a white dress

my heart has been     still
    since you’ve said those words;
the shell of my body has
moved soullessly

and    poetry won’t repair
this because

my mind circles you like vultures

—but maybe there’s solace
in the    soft fabric of
old headphones.
worn.

and when i put them on,
    everything else is gone
and     nothingness
is bliss

and life is softer to the touch,
not                             overstimulating,
because songs are just poetry
brewed on the beauty of musical strings.

and when i hit play,
suddenly i’m     transported 
into 
kendrick lamar’s m.A.A.d city of Compton,
phoebe bridgers’ Kyoto skies,
Read More
Posted: 02.05.23
Feb 05
ywp info
YWP

Inner Artist

rebeccavalley.artspace.jpg

Read More
Posted: 02.05.23
Feb 04
poem
QueenBee

Living in the Moment

Sometimes I think
I'm just a speck
Amid our swirling galaxy.

Humans are destroying it all;
We'll kill the Earth
Wipe everything out
Which really isn't smart.

If I were to be logical,
I'd say that time doesn't wait. 

Human lives are limited:
However, planets' are not
And the Earth matters, as does time
So if you want to go extinct,
Then sure,
Go on ahead.

Destroy our world 
With pollution and hate
And see where that gets you.

If life were black and white
Then people would be divided into good and bad;
But it isn't that simple in reality.

Just think
If we could work together
Let war be a thing of the past.

Imagine everything we could achieve 
If we weren't always fighting.

I'm not asking that everyone be the same
Because then everything would be boring and pointless
Read More
Posted: 02.04.23
Feb 04
fiction challenge: Postcard
star

Postcard to Nowhere

Darling,
I'm going nowhere. I have been for a long time, but now I can fully accept it; now, I can choose to go nowhere. Goals, what are those? I'd rather disappear into translucent clouds and spend a lifetime sailing amongst stars. No one to bother me, no one for me to bother. I'll be all alone, just me and the universe. No responsibilites. Nothing to worry about.
But before I prepare to spend the rest of my life vanishing into nothingness, I have one last question -
Will you join me?
-your lost love
x
Read More
Posted: 02.04.23
Feb 04
poem challenge: Teenager
aliza.j's picture
aliza.j

"Speak your Truth"


Right now, my Truth
is that I am alive. I am
Alive, and it hurts, and it’s beautiful,
and it’s a cage, and it is freedom.
My Truth is that I live in Love,
my Truth is that everyday is one soaring Flight,
my Truth is that all I have is this flowing Heart and an
anonymous, infinite, ocean of a Soul.

My Truth is that I am Human, that I open my hands
palm side up, to welcome my Friends.
My Truth is that this is all I can give:
Words. 

My Truth is that     I am kind.     I am selfish.
My Truth is that     I am gentle.     I am hurt.
                 I am tired.
My Truth is that I am so full of life and wondrous energy that
I could spin with my arms stretched open under the stars 
and the wind and the
bright, bright sun for eternity.

My Truth is that I am true. I am no one thing, but I am true.
I’m a paradox, unending. I’m so full of pain that I only want to love.
Read More
Posted: 02.04.23
Feb 03
nonfiction challenge: Teenager
rishi_jraman256

even if heaven was false / we'd still desire it / wouldn't we?

(The sweets adorn my stained-glass memories – they float like forgotten dreams)

     Gulab Jamuns taste like old summers and friends now torn-apart by dwindling youth. They’re so sweet that cheap candy seems sour, so sweet that everything else in the world seems bitter. They say it brushes against your lips like white roses and heaven flows down your throat. It’s a love once broken, now rekindled. (Sugar-coated compliments hit the mind like syrup hits the tongue. You were once on that balcony above everyone, but your feet stumbled, and now you’re falling but you think you’re flying. Air brushes against you eternally until it doesn’t and the ground meets your face. Truth is agony and your dreams are broken bones, aren’t they?)
Read More
Posted: 02.03.23
Feb 03
poem challenge: Teenager
TheDemiDevil

This Is Your Life Now

Light sobbing in the bathroom stall
Aren't we all crying a bit on the inside?
Report cards are passed out, the same pleas and worried voices
"Can you make my B+ an A?" 
"My parents are gonna be so mad..."
"I should've studied more."
Disappointed, we hug ourselves,
And remember that this is our life now.

Exiting the classrom
The soho dolls pass you by
Lips tainted like porcelain figures,
Wearing the cool clothes you saw online
but couldn't afford.
Aliens to the real, regular world
Floating on a thick cloud of sexy and sweet that cloys you.
But you have to remember that this is your life now.
Everyone feels this way, so there are no soho dolls, or cool kids.
Right?

The bus is even worse
You shirk by the other students down the crowded aisle
And it's loud.
Music can't drown anything out anymore.
You're plagued by the infamous bouncing leg.
Read More
Posted: 02.03.23
Feb 03
poem challenge: Teenager
Sawyer Fell

;

i began writing my will and goodbyes at 13;
after every night i waited for my death bed 
to hold me in an unconscious embrace and 
to cradle me until i returned to our Mother,

i anticipated my rebirth to commence at 14;
i endured the unforeseen stumble onto loves knife,
while my twin flame burned third degree scars
i blindly thanked both of them for bestowing  

pain rather than leaving me empty, then came 15;
i banished fire, too destructive for my wounded
world, wynorrific tree of heaven’s pioneered the
second succession in coming-of-age stories, and

when the retreat of fog revealed a serene 16;
i thought maybe this is what people know as faith,
instead of worshiping Grim i began venerating Future, 
i meticulously wrote my new script with the love

i should have always gifted myself, but today is 17;
every year prior i addressed my bare death bed,
Read More
Posted: 02.03.23
Feb 03
poem
star

i can't look away

i can't look away, it's impossible
there are mirrors all around, covering the walls, the floor, the ceiling
and if i try to turn away, i see you again
standing there in your clandestine beauty,
eyes glimmering with laughter from a joke no one else knows,
gliding over mirrored floors as if you don't notice everyone looking at you
knowing you don't belong to them but wishing anyway

if only you could hold me in the palm of your hand
you'd caress me against the winter wind and whisper in my ear
when i wake up after a nightmare
telling me it was just a dream
telling me i'll be all right
and i know i will be 
once i look into your eyes and see green trees and blue skies and daylight
and i'll hold onto you like a piece of driftwood
because you're my lifeline, the one i count on
to bring me through stormy seas to safety
as lightning cracks the midnight sky
Read More
Posted: 02.03.23
Feb 03
poem challenge: Teenager
star

They tell us

These are the best years of your lives, they tell us,
so stop pretending you're truly suffering.
Chin up, they tell us,
mask your grimace with your widest smile
because everthing is fine.
Stop complaining, they tell us,
middle-school kids can be annoying but
just ignore them
you're better
why succumb to their level
and get angry?
You're on the cusp of adulthood
but not quite there yet
so enjoy this moment while you still can
where you have responsibility
but don't have to fully take care of yourself
and please don't slam the door
you're just being dramatic.

I'll stare at them and want to scream,
but I won't,
because I'm thirteen and I know better.
I'll just walk away
and pretend I don't care,
 because maybe they're right, maybe everything's fine.
But then I remember--
I remember a younger version of myself who couldn't wait to be a teenager,

Read More
Posted: 02.03.23
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YWP is a creative, online community of teen writers and visual artists. We're based in Burlington, VT, and we welcome young creators from anywhere!
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