Teenager | Page 6 | Young Writers Project

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[Art by Amelia_v, YWP]

Who are you and what is your life like as a teenager in 2023? In words or images, explore, but don't feel limited by, questions such as:

Who are you at your core? How, when, or where do you most feel like your true self?
What most inspires you? Where do you find awe, joy, contentment, kindness, love?
What are the major influences in your life – people, places, ideas, creativity, the arts? How do they help to define who you are, what is important to you, and what you hope for in your life?
What issues are teenagers facing that adults don’t understand?

PRIZES AND PUBLICATION IN TWO CATEGORIES: Writing: Poetry, prose, essay, commentary, songwriting; Visual Art Category: Photography, painting, sketching, sculpture, collage, digital art. If your chosen genre or medium isn't listed here, that's OK, go ahead and submit it!
NOTE TO VISUAL ARTISTS: Responses can be abstract, literal, symbolic, interpretive, realistic – whatever best conveys your message.
DEADLINE: March 1, 2023

Return to main contest page for all the details!

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Responses to this Challenge

Feb 09

poetry challenge: Teenager

Heidi Hewes

Who am I?

Who am I?

By Heidi Hewes

Stressed, overwhelmed, scared

How the heck am I supposed to survive in this stupid world

High standards to live up to

(Why do I have to be so great)

The little devil on my shoulder constantly hammering my mind with

“A+, GET AN A+”

Just shut up…

My parents don’t even care what grades I get

As long as I’m working hard

Let me be myself, let me have fun

Let me do something I love and not feel guilty for going something I enjoy

Don’t even get me started on homework…

You try to make time for it

But

You just don’t have any time, I swear it’s a teenage curse

Being a teenager is hard.

The only true relief for all the stress is music

Music connects to you in a way nothing else can

Music…

It helps calm your mind down

Posted: 02.09.23

Feb 09

poetry challenge: Teenager

alicjahp

My Night Routine

I sit at my desk twirling my red pen
My pre-calculus notes staring back at me
I’m trying to understand how to determine where the graph switched from concave up to concave down
It’s late and I can feel my eyes starting to close
I look out my window and in the faint distance I can see the light from a groomer at the Dartmouth Skiway
I wonder what time they go to sleep
I need sleep
I ponder the possibility of studying for another 30 minutes
It is said that a teenager needs 8 to 10 hours of sleep every night
If I’m lucky I’ll get 6½
I watch the YouTube video that I found online and I finally understand the concept
I close my notes and put my calculator away
The dark circles under my eyes are very apparent
Even with my studying I still don’t feel as though I’m ready for my test
I lie in my bed and make sure my 5:45 alarm is set
Tomorrow will be another day consisting of the same routine

Posted: 02.09.23

Feb 07

essay challenge: Teenager

Summit House-WCS

Life as a Pre-Teen Teenager

Being a teenager is the beginning of a transition in life. It’s where I voice-crack way too much, get more socially awkward, and actually care if I make a fool of myself for laughs.

But it is so much more than that as well. There are some upsides, like once again, actually caring if I make a fool of myself. (It makes me really not want to remember what I was like in first grade.) But there are also some downsides, like getting insecure about myself in different things. But most of all, being a teenager is confusing. Why I think this is because, for example, some things you might think are downsides, can actually be upsides, like sometimes you have to be who you are by making a fool of yourself, instead of caring what everyone else thinks.

Posted: 02.07.23

Feb 07

poetry challenge: Teenager

rishi_jraman256

black eyeliner isn't for the faint-of-heart

(1): beauty
/ˈbyo͞odē/
noun: a combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight.

so black that it’s purple / i take off the bottle’s cap delicately / wipe off the excess / it’s pure darkness / pure noncomformity / pure love / i align the brush with my eye / my hands are shaking / i hope i produce something beautiful / but this isn’t art, is it? / the lines aren’t straight / but i’m not perfect / is perfect what they want from me? / i gaze into the painted eyes in front of me / i feel beautiful / why is this so foreign to me / who am i doing this for / i’ve got no one to please / but right now / rainwater has purified me of my scars / scars from their hateful words / because today / i’m the only lover i’ll ever need.

(2): judgement
/jəjˈmen(t)/
noun: an excessively critical point of view.

Posted: 02.07.23

Feb 07

poetry challenge: Teenager

TheSilentPoet

Unorganized Answers

Counting up the minutes,
6 hours is close enough to 7,
Close enough to 8.

Counting down the days,
Until I can leave,
Until I can sleep,

Days turn into hours,
Hours into minutes,
Minutes into sand,
That slips through my fingers.

Tears flow like a well run dry,
Salt decorating my eyelashes,
when will I wake from this dream?

This nightmare of war and hatred,
This nightmare of burning rainbows,
Burning bodies,
Burning bones.

Keep the secrets buried,
Let my ignorance be bliss,
When did I stop being a kid?

Smudged mascara tells the truth
that the whispered voices hide.

More blood lingering on wounds that aren't mine,
Arms that arent mine,
Shoulders that aren't mine.

Since when should a fourteen year old
be convincing her friends not to die?

Truth is relative,
They say.

Truth,

Posted: 02.07.23

Feb 06

visual art challenge: Teenager

Amelia_v

split down the middle

Posted: 02.06.23

Feb 06

poetry 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,

you're 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.

Posted: 02.06.23

Feb 06

poetry challenge: Teenager

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, ventriloquism, a promising 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.

Posted: 02.06.23

Feb 06

poetry challenge: Teenager

emiliaw._

Invincibility: A Conversation

A daughter enters the kitchen. Her mother sits at the table.

The daughter asks,

How is it
That one day
I woke up
And suddenly
I was no longer
    invincible?

I don’t know, honey.

Me neither.

But it’s alright.
You’ll be okay.

But it doesn’t feel
    okay.
I don’t feel
    alright.

    Yeah.

Will I ever get it back?
My invincibility?

No, darling,
I don’t believe you will.
It’s just growing up.

This doesn’t feel good.

No, you’re right, it doesn’t.

Poet’s Note:

Posted: 02.06.23

Feb 05

poetry 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.

Posted: 02.05.23

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