strong imagery

Poetry·Julia Marcus, age 13 — A girl traces her name in breath-fog on an evening window, observing how light casts her shadow onto the lawn below.

Story·Olivia Ladell, age 13 — After Earth's population flees to Mars, an eight-year-old boy is accidentally left behind. Eight years later, on his sixteenth birthday, he discovers another forgotten teenager.

Poetry·Liv Baker, age 11 — A sensory catalog poem moves from mountain drives through rain showers to skiing, capturing moments of calm through specific smells and textures.

Story·Emily Carver, age 11 — A red wolf named Ruby gets separated from her pack, is tranquilized and relocated to Yellowstone, where she finds a new pack and home after proving herself in battle.

Poetry·Leila Lakhal, age 12 — A Muslim girl defends her faith and community against stereotypes, describing her culture as a warm blanket woven from love and tradition.

Poetry·Tatiana Rebecca Shrayer, age 13 — A girl and her father venture into woods to craft a bow and arrows from oak branches, shooting them into the star-filled evening sky.

Poetry·Analise Braddock, age 9 — A circus where performers swap acts transforms into animals and objects overnight, then mysteriously returns to normal the next day.

Poetry·Tatiana Rebecca Shrayer, age 13 — A 13-year-old observes graduation season from a Manhattan hotel, watching anxious parents at breakfast and contemplating the hidden world awaiting both graduates and herself.

Poetry·Tatiana Rebecca Shrayer, age 13 — A winter morning walk to art class transforms when the speaker notices the river's muddy ice, mallard, and debris become a still life waiting to be painted.

Poetry·Tatiana Rebecca Shrayer, age 13 — Morning fog lifts as blackbirds sing and a coyote chases a dog, leaving the speaker wondering who cleared the fog away.