lyrical prose
— A child addresses a cedar tree, remembering climbing its branches, building a swing, sharing secrets, and hanging Christmas ornaments that catch the light.
— A young writer explores her name through sound and image, from clear streams to butterfly wings, discovering it as her core of courage and uniqueness.
— A philosophical meditation on the concept of nothing — its paradoxical presence in absence, its role in thought and space, and its unexpected value in our lives.
— A sonnet celebrating nature's cycles through sensory images of water, wildlife, and seasonal changes, from sunset to sunrise, rain to bloom.
— A young philosopher contemplates time's mysterious nature — how it stretches through space, moves at different speeds, and ultimately asks what we do with it.
— A young guitarist loses herself in playing, as golden light fades to darkness and the music wraps around her like a quilt.
— A hiker rises above civilization to Lake Alpine, becoming one with the hawk soaring overhead, breathing pine and sage and thin mountain air.
— A girl traces her evolving understanding of clouds from childhood fantasies of cotton candy and fairies to learning the water cycle in school, finding wonder in scientific truth.
— A meditation on dishwashing becomes a portal to memory, neighborhood sounds, and the passage of time in a Korean household abroad.
— At 4 AM, a girl reads a beloved book while reflecting on how beauty and peace persist alongside the pandemic's ongoing tragedy.