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Personal Narrative·Mark Chen — A boy leaves his childhood apartment and playground behind, struggling with loss before slowly transforming his sterile new home into a place that holds his memories.

Poetry·Lillian Power — A speaker finds freedom in the ocean, leaving behind the defensive armor worn on land, preferring the vulnerability of water to the safety of shore.

Poetry·Lillian Power — A speaker emerges from their skin to discover their multicolored beauty, finding harmony between self and nature in a moment of self-acceptance.

Poetry·Marilena Korahais — A whimsical recipe poem for making soup from bay water, moon snail shells, urchin spikes, and other seaside ingredients, stirred into a whirlpool under August lightning.

Poetry·Gia Koo — A child observes a lime tree through the seasons, noting its winter bareness, spring birdsong, summer growth, and autumn abundance of leaves.

Poetry·Ida Wiesenfeld — Swallows move through a day from dawn to twilight, their appearance transforming with the changing light from silver firs to moonlit wings.

Poetry·Rose Torrey — A summer evening unfolds through sensory details — soft light, rushing water, owl calls, and moonlight stretching across quiet land.

Personal Narrative·Clementine Lewis — A young swimmer discovers the underwater world of a Bermuda coral reef, encountering a parrotfish that transforms her understanding of the ocean.

Poetry·Nirali Yedendra — A young writer explores the complexity of emotions, from broken courage to unnamed feelings, concluding that our thoughts and experiences belong to us forever.

Poetry·Jordan Sung — A surreal journey through a dreamscape where light whispers, fireflies form paths, and a door handle transforms into an octopus, culminating in 'blue fear.'