a letter from ninestars to my friends

I come here to

express myself

semi-anonymously,

but freely

and happily.

My laptop is

bombarded with

tabs, one of which

is YWP.

Always.

I may not

write a poem

every single day

or post a photograph

after every 

moment in nature,

but when my

brain is 

overflown with

and overwhelmed by

countless emotions

or feelings

or things

that I can't

quite name,

I escape to

YWP

and those feelings

seem to run

right away. 

And I'm

not sure why,

but I could

take a guess:

On YWP I am

ninestars, I stalk

my own profile

meticulously, speculating

how other people

may view me,

whether I be

right or wrong.

On YWP I am

free, and I 

feel free, whether

it be by simply

staring at the

home page,

or when I scroll

through weekly challenges.

On YWP

I have a community

of other writers

my age and I

may not know

their names,

or their favorite foods,

or their favorite movies,

but I know them

by their familiar

usernames that I

recognize through

their works and their

frequent liking of

my own.

So maybe that's

why, by simply

switching tabs,

from educational writing

to personal,

I feel so relieved

of stress when I see

the home page

of YWP.

Because it is

not just a home page,

but a preview

of the inclusive

and welcoming

community that is

Young Writers Project.