Author’s Statement I started writing this piece as an optional assignment in my seventh grade English class. It was an end of the year assignment. In this piece, I have tried to describe some vivid memories and experiences over the one and a half years during which the COVID-19 virus has put a break on my life. The pandemic has been a turning point in my life. I still have many more experiences to gain in life but I doubt I will ever be able to forget this. A Note from the Editor These poems were submitted to Stone Soup blog as a 40 page collection. I have decided to publish them in weekly installments, breaking them up by the seasons Paridhi established. The artwork I have chosen to accompany each installment was not selected by the author and was originally published in Stone Soup. Part VI (End) Spring 2021 Guarding the Garden By Audrey Champness, 12 (Green Cove Springs, FL), published in Stone Soup December 2021 In the Hotel We stayed in a hotel For the first 15 days. While my parents were busy arranging things, I enjoyed Going out For walks With my father, Seeing the beauty Of this new city. However, In my heart I could feel the pain. I will miss my cousins. I will miss seeing their laughing faces. I will miss my monkey brother, Who always was there by my side. I will miss my naughty sister, I will miss them. A House Our first priority— My school. Mom was meticulously searching for good schools on the net. She chooses Jefferson Middle School. It was listed as the best. And finally, the search for an accommodation In the district that we would call home. We have finally booked a house And now we are moving in our luggage To our new house. New Experience We had bought furniture, But we did not know, We did not know that we had to assemble it. So we spent the entire day trying to set up all the pieces. And by the end of the day We were dog tired. Fun it was though. A New School Today is my first day of school. I am going physically to school, After a whole year online. I am very excited. Settled We are finally settled, We have bought what we need at home. I am doing fine in school. Future Today when I look back to last year gone by, It has been really adventurous. My eyes are now set to new goals, To the aims that I have, To the dreams that I want to fulfill, To the success I want to achieve, To the love that I want to spread, I wish the Almighty stands by me, Like he always does, In his hidden subtle ways.
Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists
Weekly Creativity #216: Write about Your Name and the Story behind It
Write about your name and the story behind it. How did it come about? Who named you? What does it mean?
Flash Contest #46, August 2022: Write about a utopian city and a dystopian city that are right next to each other—our winners and their work
Our August Flash Contest was based on Prompt #214 (provided by Stone Soup intern Sage Millen), which asked that participants channel their inner Dickens and write about two cities—utopian and dystopian—that were right next to each other. We received a wide breadth of submissions (including a couple poems), all with brilliant world-building. Two of the winning submissions were epistolary, though their plots were completely different; one was a letter from a condemned father to his saved daughter and the other was a series of letters between strangers turned friends. Many submissions decided to flip the trope of “utopia,” crafting utopian cities with sinister motives, while others stuck to the literal definition. Others took their cities into space as well as the future. As always, we thank all who submitted and encourage you to submit again next month! In particular, we congratulate our Winners and our Honorable Mentions, whose work you can appreciate below. Winners “Tend to My Grave” by Sophie Li, 11 “The Unknown War” by Evan Lu, 13 “The Oasis” by Lui Lung, 13 “Magic Wands” by Pranjoli Sadhukha, 12 “Crimson Messenger” by Olivia Yu, 13 Honorable Mentions “The Peacemakers and the Jupiters” by Arnav Bansal, 12 “A Glimmer of Hope” by Reena Bao, 12 “The Light in the Darkness” by Samantha Lee, 12 “Where the Utopian Meets the Dystopian” by Aryaman Majumder, 11 “Two Worlds” by Madeline Male, 14 Tend to my Grave Sophie Li, 11 Dear Amelia: I am your father. You may not remember this, but when you were ten years old, you were kidnapped and brought to the bottom of a strange mountain. I tracked you down but when I arrived, your captor had been killed and you had disappeared. All evidence pointed to you traveling up the mountain, so I went up. It was a long and perilous journey and I had begun to fear that you had died along the way, but I continued up the mountain. When I reached the top I was engulfed in blackness for approximately 25 seconds, which left me extremely disoriented. There was a man at the top who asked me who I was, and I remembered, but just barely. He told me I could not enter Paradise because I remembered my name. He was about to push me off a cliff when I asked him about you. It turns out that you had your memory wiped only one hour before I came, and you had been admitted to Paradise. I was too late. You no longer remembered who I was. Paradise is not what it seems. They have given you a new identity and a wrong sense of the world. You do the small duties in exchange for the most luxurious place to live. It is the closest ever to a utopian world but you have missed out on the more beautiful part of life. There is no love in paradise because love can create conflict. You may miss your family if they are not all there. There are no ideas in paradise because ideas can create disorder. There is no choice in paradise because you may choose wrong. And there is no memory because you may long for the past. But by removing these elements, they are also removing the rewarding parts of love, ideas, memory and choice. But paradise cannot have a fault, cannot have unhappiness. The man pushed me off a cliff, but I did not die. Instead, I found myself in the opposite of paradise. It was an overcrowded nation where everyone lived in dumpster-like conditions. A cruel government killed anyone who resisted the government’s orders. The health conditions were disastrous and society was riddled with robbers, bandits, murderers, and illegal drug dealers. Tomorrow I will die at the hands of the government. I have received the death sentence and I need your help. But you will not understand. I am a stranger to you. To you, I am lying about a made-up world. To you, what is love? What is thought? What is choice? You will stay in paradise, while the father you once loved will die. I hope that when this reaches you, you will know, and one day you will break free of the bonds that hold you to Paradise and tend to my grave. If you will ever love again, Dad P.S. Your real name is Rose. The Unknown War Evan Lu, 13 Another dreadful morning for David. Prince David. The Utopia City had been ruthless to them these past few days, and today might be one of the worst yet. While both cities were monarchies, Utopia seemed much more lax in keeping their citizens in check compared to Dystopia. Forty-seven years prior, Dystopia had been forced to sign a peace treaty, which strictly required them to be amiable with their former adversary. Today, however, things had gone sour. The two cities hadn’t had many recent problems, but there didn’t seem to be an easy resolution for the current obstacle. “David! Are you there?” “Oh yes, Dad!” David brought his attention back to the present, “Sorry, I didn’t hear you.” David’s father, Christopher Thompson, oversaw and managed most things that happened in Dystopia. Being the king, he was tasked with today’s meeting with the Utopian government to ensure the prosperity of their own people. Today was going to be a big day. A day that could change everything for the rundown, desolate little city. “Dad, promise me you will stay safe meeting with them. Okay?” They both looked down into the courtyard where the local Utopians were shouting at the Dystopians who had traveled up from their canyon home to bear witness to the meeting. No one really knew how the two cities had originated, but perfectly settled in the recesses of the ravine was Dystopia City while perched on the precipice above laid Utopia City. The geographical difference of their locations had caused quite a bias to form, and had caused them to be at odds with
