Megan Miller

Our December 2024 Flash Contest was based on Prompt #311 (provided by Stone Soup students Sage Millen, Meleah Goldman, and Emma Hoff), which asked that participants write a short story from a blizzard’s perspective, a poem on your favorite part of winter, or create an artwork that shows light and darkness As always, thank you to all who participated, and please keep submitting next month! In particular, we congratulate our Honorable Mentions, listed below, and our Winners, whose work you can appreciate below. Winners “Snowflake” by Scarlett Yi, 13 “Snowflakes: A Winter’s Tanka Poem” by Matthew Zhang, 13 “From the life we left” by Dara Jin, 11 “Waiting” by John Gabriel Sperl, 12 “Snowflake Light” by Tang Li, 12 Honorable Mentions “The Wonders of Winter” by Evee Dev, 9 “BLIZZARD” by Julian Yang, 10 “My View” by Sharbani Datta, 10 “Winter’s Breath” Haoran Yang, 11 “A New December Day: A Shakespearean Sonnet ” by Erica Zhan, 12 Snowflake Scarlett Yi, 13 Winter is a great time to have your heart leave you tofeel your ears redden with fire andBe consumed by direSpeed I zoomAcross a field ofHardened glinting crystalsEach one with a bitterly cold tasteAnd then Fall andFly,FasterThanBliss And     You        Can’t Miss this feeling Snowflakes: A Winter’s Tanka Poem Matthew Zhang, 13 Billions of smallDancers, twirling in the skyFalling slowly downOne flake after anotherOne flake after another From the Life We Left Dara Jin, 11 Wintry trees on a lonely laneMoonlight shines on the frostLonesome flakes of snowDrop onto the deep wide planeThe meadows bright under the moonlightwhat once was gold is now whiteTree roots deep in the groundUntouchedUnblemished By the deep deep coldLife disappearsone by oneinto the lonesome cavernof their homethe only life in sightis single haresnow white against the backgroundwaiting for springthe once burbling rivernow silencedby the murderous icethe pine trees shagged thricesleeves of frostand robes of snowmake winter forthIn the bright of the moonglittering in maliceunblemisheduntouched Hundreds of miles awaya church bell tollsmidnightin the middle of nowhereAn owl takes flightthe natural winter wonderlandof snow and ice flourishing and beautiful unblemisheduntouched By man made designtrees swaying in the howling windsnow stubbornly holding onto lifeBaubles of snow, of icicles, floating in the airFrozen lakes, in the movement of nothingunderneath is a world of wonderPowdery snowglistening whiteslowly fallingfrom the perch in the skyinto the wildernessUntouchedunblemishedNature recuperates from harm. Waiting John Gabriel Sperl, 12 My favorite partof this chilly time,is known to manyas something cherished and loved. But for me,living in the land of lost hills,it’s a rarity,a squandered treasure. The silky sheetsof white galore,covering everythingin beauty incarnate. But now I watchthrough the window,and see nothing buta sad tomorrow. For the glassy brilliancethat so blessed the grass,now lays waitingup in the sky. Snowflake Light Tang Li, 12