original perspective

Poetry·Matthew Brailsford, age 11 — A child at the beach reaches out to touch the sunset and wraps it around their shoulders like a coat, transforming sensory experience into wearable joy.

Poetry·Cammie Keel, age 13 — A winter morning arrives through skeletal trees, a crow's shriek, silver air, and frost-cocooned grass until the last leaf falls on white ground.

Poetry·Abigail D'Agosta, age 12 — A chicken investigates a strange furry creature through the coop wire, stretching its neck cautiously before pecking the cat's ear.

Poetry·Jeremy Long, age 13 — A homeless speaker finds beauty in rain-soaked streets while others hurry inside, seeing Picasso in puddles and mythological figures in storm clouds.

Poetry·Astrid May Steiner-Manning, age 12 — Runners collapse together in winter snow, their bodies folding into each other like marionettes, transforming exhaustion into shared laughter and connection.

Poetry·Ava Persinger, age 12 — A young observer discovers the ocean's hidden music — from crashing waves to a tiny crab's clicking claws to shells clinking in the depths.

Story·Felicia McSweeney, age 11 — A girl is swept out to sea at night, sinks to the ocean floor watching bubbles rise from her laughing mouth, then returns to shore with the tide.

Poetry·Isaac Walsh, age 10 — A six-year-old loses his orange Croc over the Stone Arch Bridge and imagines it floating down the Mississippi to Louisiana, carrying its mystery.

Story·Elia Smith, age 9 — A girl receives a mysterious golden locket that only certain people can see, giving her courage to sing her first solo and later passing it to her sister.

Poetry·Gertie-Pearl Zwick-Schachter, age 12 — A drowsy afternoon in a garden becomes a meditation on the sensory pull between nature's beauty and the body's desire for rest.