What do you do when you feel as though you are coming undone.
A piece of string unwound, and the entire metamorphosis stunned.
Just asking for a friend. 
She feels her heart is tearing inside and ripping out her lungs.
Yet the beat is steady,
And the drum makes her numb.
She is greatness, brave and loved 
Yet it is the tragic loss that envelopes her every day.
The kind where it makes you feel as though your skin is an ashtray.
The kind that wakes you up with tears in your eyes.
With hope draining from the sockets and the weight of expectations just becomes so exponentially large that you start praying for it to crush you.
You pray that you can make it through 12 more hours.
And you watch others as they fall short of this depression.
You demand why, why is it that they get to be living.
When I feel so stagnant and dead inside.
Why is this world left up to probabilities and possibilities?

Hi everyone! This week I spoke with IceGalaxy about their poem, "White Dress," using imagery, the magic of bookstores, second-person POV in writing, thinking about the future, my existential crisis about turning 17, and looking for truth and honesty in books. 
I hope you enjoy! 
-Iris
 

Hi everyone! Here is the very special Episode 30, Part 2 of Line Break! Amaryllis and I gave each other lines that we wrote, which we used as inspiration to write our own poems. My poem, january., can be found here, and amaryllis' poem, hallowed halos, hollow be thy name can be found here. In this episode, we talked about our poems, superstitions, my writing process, writing songs versus poems, memories, and what it was like to write using each others' lines. 
I hope you enjoy this episode, and thank you to everyone at YWP for supporting Line Break and creating a really amazing podcast with me! 
-Iris

Hi everyone! This week I spoke with NiñaEstrella about her poem, "Salty royalty," Pointillism paintings, group projects, writing letters to our future selves, and taking inspiration from dreams. Also, here's a link to "The Swing" by Fragonard, which we mentioned in the episode:
https://ta-images.condecdn.net/image/ZWxdbW58EJ1/crop/810/f/les-hasards-...

I hope you enjoy the first episode of 2021!
-Iris

Hi everyone! This week I spoke with Stargirl about her poem, "H.H," reading at open mics, getting support from your family and community, Jandy Nelson's books, and thinking positively about your writing. Also, this is Part II of the Hannaford Love Poems mini-series! 
I hope you enjoy!
-Iris

Hi everyone! This week I spoke with Robo Jacket about his short story, "K-8 and the Grand Reunion," sci-fi and post-apocalyptic worlds, fiction writing as a desire to tell stories, movies we love, and trusting your writing. 
Here is a link to the K-8 podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1231289.
I hope you enjoy!
Iris

Nope, I'm not a rapper, I can barely tap my feet,
I can sometimes feel the music, feel the rhythm, or the beat,
However you've inspired me to somehow get this done,
A tiny little project 'bout the lovely beaming sun. 
I do not have much skill at all, but I swear it's filled with passion. 
For once I've left my comfort zone, in beats and music fashion.
It took too many tries to count –
I've laughed along the way. 
This really's not my forte ... but you've inspired me anyway. 

Hi everyone! This week I spoke with Alex Muck, a teaching artist who leads monthly online workshops for YWP, including the recent Write with the Harvest Moon. Alex is a certified Gateless teacher and founder of Fun is a Necessity, LLC, a Vermont-based arts education organization. We talked about her poem, "In Praise of Plainclothes Poetry," poems that we've grown with, not having to be perfect with your writing, the 'junk drawer cauldron', staying connected to writing after high school and college, and not letting grades stop you from loving to write.
I hope you enjoy!
-Iris