ACARA Years 7-10
— A Halloween night becomes a meditation on moral choices when the narrator faces unattended candy bowls with 'Please Take 1' signs and witnesses another child take everything.
— A girl navigates family tensions and grief during a lake outing, culminating in an ice cream mishap that leads to an unexpected swim across the lake with her cousin.
— A train passenger watches the ocean transform from violent turquoise waves to peaceful sunset, remembering childhood drawings and contemplating permanence amid change.
— A girl attends therapy sessions for her 'imaginary friend' Emma, who turns out to be the sister who died in the car crash that killed their parents.
— A meditation on water transforms from stillness to boiling, from possibility to necessity, as the speaker makes soup from nothing but water itself.
— A brief meditation on the paradox of 'now' — how the present moment of writing becomes the past by the time of reading.
— A meditation on time as both enemy and friend, resolving to embrace each day's activities rather than mourn its passing.
— In early morning solitude, a teenager reflects from her blue chair, treasuring this pause before the world returns to normal and her sanctuary becomes ordinary again.
— A mixed-race teenager rejects the 'café au lait' metaphor others use, claiming instead the power of being a thunderstorm where opposing forces create energy and change.
— Three distinct portraits of rain capture its varied moods: mystical mist, violent tempest, and bleak drizzle, each rendered through precise sensory language.