Home
Young Writers Project

Search form

  • Login
  • DONATE
  • CREATE
    • RECENT POSTS
    • THE DAILY READ
  • COMMUNITY
    • TINY WRITES
    • BOOK CLUB
    • OH SNAP! OPEN MIC
    • YWP PODCAST: Line Break
    • YWP CALENDAR
  • CHALLENGES
    • WEEKLY CHALLENGES: Jan-June 2022
    • CREATE YOUR OWN CHALLENGES
    • JOURNALISM CHALLENGES
      • Journalism Project Info
    • LIFELINE CONTEST: See the April issue of The Voice for prize-winners
    • THE GREAT POETS CHALLENGE
    • CHALLENGES BANK
    • YWP RESOURCES
    • CALL TO ARTISTS
    • SYNESTHETIC ART
  • PUBLICATIONS
    • ANTHOLOGY 12
      • Celebrate Anthology 12 Podcast!
    • THE VOICE
    • SPECIAL ISSUES: The ELM 2021
      • A Celebration of Trees
      • The Social Distancing Journal
    • MEDIA PARTNERS
    • YWP NEWSLETTER
    • ANNUAL REPORT
  • ABOUT
    • ABOUT YWP
    • "YWP is ..." Who we are!
    • PERMISSION FORM
    • TERMS & CONDITIONS OF USE
    • CONTACT US
  • Donate
  • LOG IN/JOIN
Previous Post
Next Post
Jan 22
poem
GreyBean

A chipping green bench

sometimes I grope for words
and laugh at myself afterwards. 
(because I’m supposed to be a writer, aren’t I?)
other times, I sit on the chipping green bench
and pretend to stare at the birds
while I tap
tap tap
inside my head and live a different life. 
I let words and colors drench me
(chrysanthemum, holly, periwinkle)
as I suffocate under the rules. 

because I am not uniform—
I am the beads that fall from a loose necklace,
a swarm of thoughts and starry nights,
the weeds that grow under your house and up 
your walls. 

how do you tell someone 
that you dream because you want to escape?
because this little, broken world is not enough,
and we’ve already begun to burn.
 
  • GreyBean's blog
  • Sprout
  • Log in or register to post comments
  • Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Posted: 01.22.22
About the Author: GreyBean
MSG / CONTACT
RECENT LOVES
  • YWP's Yellow Sweater Publishes Book of Poetry
  • Red Moon 2022
  • The Farmer's Market
  • What I wish I had known
  • Lil Blob
RECENT COMMENTS
  • Yayayay!! I love this chapter
  • I love your imagery. :)
  • My gosh this is beautiful. I
  • I love the imagery in this!
  • Thank you!!!

Other Posts

  • (untitled)
    clockwork orangeand the haunted house creaks with a thought. Read more
    in poem 0 Comments
  • her
    1.it started with silence,then a baby’s wailsand a mother’s happy tears. Read more
    in poem 0 Comments
  • Kranz aus Gänseblümchen (Daisy Crown)
    Note: this is a story I wrote a while ago, 5 months after my grandmother passed away. Read more
    in fiction 0 Comments

Discussion

Comments

  1. EvaPrinceCharming
    Jan 23, 2022

    This may be my favorite thing I've read on Young Writers Project so far. I really feel and understand what you are saying. I often feel that there is a place in my head I go when I'm alone and crushed by the broken parts of the world. I really dislike all the groups and categories we put things in, why can't I be all of those things and none of them too.

    • Log in or register to post comments
  1. GreyBean
    Jan 23, 2022

    Thank you so much! I'm glad you could relate to this poem!

    • Log in or register to post comments
  1. amaryllis
    Jan 24, 2022

    I wish I could "love" this more times-- you capture this (I don't even really know what this is-- an emotion? a feeling? an experience? a moment that is somehow just that and so much more?) so perfectly. In awe.

    • Log in or register to post comments
  1. GreyBean
    Jan 24, 2022

    Thank you!!!

    • Log in or register to post comments
  • ABOUT
  • DONATE
  • PUBLICATIONS
  • SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER
  • JOIN/LOGIN
YWP is a creative, online community of teen writers and visual artists, ages 13-18. We're based in Burlington, VT, and we welcome young creators from anywhere!
Special thanks to The Kemmerer Family Foundation whose generous support made this new, improved website possible.
Website development and design by Refaktor Inc., Summit Creative Works, and YWP's Vivien Sorce, Lauren McCabe, Katherine Moran, and Susan Reid.

Young Writers Project | 47 Maple St., Suite 216 | Burlington, VT 05401
501(c)(3) nonprofit established in 2006
Contact: Susan Reid, Executive Director: [email protected]; (802) 324-9538