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Young Writers Project is grateful to vtdigger.org, a nonprofit news operation in Vermont, for publishing selected YWP work each week. The news organization loves sound and images so feel free to include those in your posts! (Use the audio recorder on your blog form under ADD MEDIA.) Please support the writers by going to vtdigger.org and leaving a COMMENT.: Click here.

These pieces are selected for publication by YWP Staff, mentors and this site's Community Leaders. If you wish to participate in the selection, contact Susan Reid.

Mar 30

poem 0 comments

nikki.crouse

A House With No Windows

No way for anyone to look in,
to tell if it was light or dark inside.
No way to tell if things were quiet and still,
or if the house was about to explode.

If one wanted to see inside, they could,
but only if they had a key.
And that key, of course,
came from the owner.

And she was picky,
some would say too picky.
But why would anyone allow someone inside their house?

Mar 26

poem 2 comments

Abby_Simmons

Remembering You

mediaRecorder_5abc456a8a6ea.ogg.mp3

What I remember of you is very little.
I was young when you passed.
I remember when you gave me,
a five year old,
four lollipops.
Your reasoning?
"two in each hand
so you don't lose balance
and fall over"

I remember you at your husband's wake.
You cried over his casket
it was "the worst day of your life"
as you said.
It was soon forgotten.

I remember visiting you.
You offered us icecream and I felt

Audio download:

mediaRecorder_5abc456a8a6ea.ogg.mp3

Mar 22

poem 0 comments challenge: Photo 8 - Treetop

clearyj

The Roof

I watch
As the sunlight dips
Behind the greenish-gold mountains.
And I try to ignore the
Responsibilities tugging
In the back of my mind

I am hypnotized by the roof of my garage,
But I am not looking at it.
I am staring at it without a meaning.

I am not looking at the roof
I am just resting my eyes
On a not-too-bright
Mesmerizing
Surface
With a bountiful amount of bumps.

I am thinking.

Mar 08

poem 0 comments

wondering about rain

Electric Galaxy

City floating in the black inky sky,
I see you as I fly by.
Each light adds to the galaxy
Of stories and lives.
I imagine jumping into
The darkness forever falling up
Into the night sky reflected below.
Maybe its an ocean with
Strange creatures busy flowing
With the undertow.
Im a space traveler observing without
Really seeing,
But I can still feel each being.
Pockets of life shown by lights.

Mar 03

poem 4 comments challenge: Schools: Do you feel safe?

Icarus Blackmore

Drill

“Pay attention to how you act,
We develop habits in our youth."
My eighth grade teacher claimed,

“Even if it’s not healthy,
I still eat everything on my plate.”
He explained, “Because that’s,
What I’m used to,
I don’t feel right if don’t,
Because,
That’s how I was taught to behave,
And now the habit’s engrained.”

“So I ask you to pratice,
That habit of a postive mind.
Just try and look at the world,

Feb 21

poem 7 comments challenge: Schools: Do you feel safe?

Drift

but i did

mediaRecorder_5a94656081ced.ogg.mp3

the first time i felt unsafe in school
was because someone vandalized my homework.
it was crudely scratched and hasty,
but a deliberate "asian" across my math.
i didn't want to go back,
but i did.

the second time i felt unsafe in school
was Sandy Hook.
all i could think about was children
screaming and crying
wanting to know what was happening
and why it was.
i thought of how they wanted their parents

Audio download:

mediaRecorder_5a94656081ced.ogg.mp3

Jan 24

poem 4 comments

Icestorm

simplicity

i sit
at the sunny cafeteria
table eating
a peaunt butter and jelly
listening
to my friends discuss
poltics, anthony ramos's new album,
our new english assignment.

our proximity to each other
makes it possible to
hear one another
over the dull roar of
student chatter.

they go over
our president's latest stupid tweet,
the school dance, new classes.

i do not speak much,

Jan 24

poem 2 comments

Harper the Lee

Easy things can be harder than hard things

mediaRecorder_5a774390325bd.ogg.mp3

I am told:
Who I should be
Who I shouldn't be
Who I should talk to
Who I shouldn't talk to
What I should do
What I shouldn't do
What I am
What I am not
When I can talk
When I can't talk
When I can
When I can't
Where I should
Where I shouldn't
Where I can
Where I can't
How I should act
How I shouldn't act
How I should
How I shouldn't
...

Audio download:

mediaRecorder_5a774390325bd.ogg.mp3

Jan 21

rant/rave 6 comments challenge: General

k.daigle

Dying World

The world is dying,
the people crying,
as if they weren't the ones
who held the guns.

Put that oil in the water,
atmosphere getting hotter,
millions of trees hit the ground,
a world-wide nervous breakdown.

All we care about is a selfie,
who looks the most like Barbie,
whose teeth are whiter,
whose dress is tighter.

Just say it will be fine.
Pretend we aren't running out of time.

Jan 15

rant/rave 5 comments

eulusivepurplepanda

Acceptable- an open letter to the president

mediaRecorder_5a6fb5866e740.wav.mp3

Dear Mr. Trump,

Well, here we are again! I've come to complain. A white, middle class, teenage girl. Writing to you: An orange, 1%, seventy-year-old man who also happens to be my President.
Here we go.

George Washington owned slaves. He was publicly excused because he helped found the country and was a gentleman.
Though I, and most others are still mad about the slaves, we still study him in school.

Audio download:

mediaRecorder_5a6fb5866e740.wav.mp3

Dec 02

visual 1 comment

a.harkness02

Rooftop

Nov 28

poem 4 comments

charvermont

interest in the pig snorts

12.11.17.PigSnorts.mp3

you think my hair is strange,
just because it isn’t straight and regular.
you think my nose is too wide,
and long,
and not proportioned in any direction it goes.
you think my eyes are plain
and not interesting,
not in the slightest.
you think
that my laugh sounds like a pig snorting.
but I think that my hair is good hair.
I think that my nose isn’t too wide or long.
I don’t think my eyes are plain.

Audio download:

12.11.17.PigSnorts.mp3

Nov 24

visual 0 comments challenge: Nature

Art

Pileated Apertures

Nov 06

poem 5 comments

Kittykatruff

The Beautiful Inevitable

How beautifully the brush of existence
Sweeps across the broad canvas of the sky,
Leaving streaks of colors
in compliance
With the whispered wish of watching eyes.
Raising a harmonious symphony,
The birds cradle joy and sadness in song;
As ink-black darkness spreads infinitely,
Light slips from the sky, but not for too long—
I catch my reflection in the window,
And watch the twinkling stars dance in my eyes;

Oct 25

poem 3 comments

SilverGoose

Distance

I can't seem to find
the name for this feeling,
it's somewhere between
melancholy and nostalgia.

I know that you and I
are not similar enough
to stay the way we were,
and I don't really want to be
constantly by your side anymore.

But I miss the way we were
and I wish we could
go back to then
when we were inseparable.

We'd go on adventures
through the woods,
pretend there were people

Oct 20

poem 1 comment challenge: Rain

emilytrage

One Stormy Eve

One Stormy Eve.m4a

The hour presents itself in shades of grey
Rusted leaves replacing the blossoms of May
My footsteps crunch against gravel and stone
As I tiredly wend my way home.

The rain wastes no time in tumbling down
Collecting on flowers and soaking the town
Clinging to shoes, then socks, then barefeet
As I follow the lonely street.

I watch in wonder as the river swells

Audio download:

One Stormy Eve.m4a

Oct 20

poem 15 comments challenge: Winter/17

Thenbenhappened

Good Morning

mediaRecorder_59efe18bb51d9.ogg.mp3

6:00 a.m.
My eyelids split open;
The sticky sleep,
Peeling slowly off me.
My eyes adjusted
To the damp darkness.

6:06 a.m.
I found myself
Exiting my bed.
Scooping up my
Pile of school clothes
Off the ground.
I stood up,
And slammed my head
On the edge of my dresser.

6:08 a.m.
The dull throbbing
In my head
Finally quelled.
I hoped the
Red curse words

Audio download:

mediaRecorder_59efe18bb51d9.ogg.mp3

Oct 17

poem 2 comments

semacdonald

Vegas.

Editor's Note: This piece is featured on vtdigger.org.

9:50 pm
a starlit city on the
dawn of october,
burned red with bar signs
and stop lights.

on this night in Sin City
steam rose from the
floor of the concrete jungle.
predators prowled, prey lurked.
metal vines swung from construction sites,
sun and moon peered between buildings to cast

Oct 01

non-fiction, audio 0 comments

earleyg

Names (Audio Version)

mediaRecorder_59d1297e69a9b.wav.mp3

Audio download:

mediaRecorder_59d1297e69a9b.wav.mp3

Sep 20

poem, audio 10 comments

Drift

Casual Racism With a Side of Language Based Angst

mediaRecorder_59c30d5a0874e.ogg.mp3

In an attempt to delete an audio recording that I wasn't satisfied with, I ended up deleting the post as whole thinking it meant deleting the changes I had made previously. My bad. This is just a repost, where nothing has changed from the original. My apologies for causing any confusion.

I was sitting among tiny green blades of grass,
listening to a chaotic symphony
of loudspeakers
and bubbling voices.

I was sitting under a rosy sky

Audio download:

mediaRecorder_59c30d5a0874e.ogg.mp3