Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists

Flash contest #16: Write an unsettling poem Create a poem with an eerie or creepy tone. You can make the poem as nonsensical or as relatable as possible, but retain the sense of being unsettled throughout. Liam Hancock, 12Danville, CA The week commencing July 13th (Daily Creativity prompt #81) was our sixteenth week of flash contests, with a sinister challenge set by contributor and writing workshop member Liam Hancock, 13. It seems everyone had plenty of scary stuff to get out of their systems–we had an absolute record number of entries this week: more than 70! Well done Liam for setting such a terrifically inspiring challenge, and thank you for all your work helping us read and judge our huge pile. It was really fun working with you. We were looking for the creepiest, most unsettling poems for our winners’ list, and we certainly found them! While all our winners had slightly different subjects, all of them built tension through their poems to a frankly terrifying end; and they showed us that while sinister, creepy, eerie things often come at night, these feelings can be evoked in broad daylight, too. The honorable mentions were equally varied, moving between suspense, nightmares, death, unexplained disappearances–and even managing to make a butterfly into something sinister.  Well done, everyone. Also, there were a few entries that didn’t place in the contest, but which we will share with everyone on our COVID-19 blog in the coming weeks–well done to Samson Brown, 13; Madi Frank, 11; Eleanor Levy, 8; Lucas Lin, 11; Aviva Rosenstock, 9; Olivia Wang, 10. Thank you to all of you who entered and successfully unsettled the judges, and special congratulations to all of our worthy winners! Winners “In the Light of the Red Moon” by Katherine Bergsieker, 12, Denver, CO “Something Peculiar” by Fern Hadley, 11, Cary, NC “Shattered” by Meleah Goldman, 10, Oakland, CA “Count Them Down” by Ella Yamamura, 12, Cary, NC “A Little Off” by Keira Zhang, 12, Belmont, MA Highly Commended “Lucid Dreams” by Aiden Avedissian, 9, Valley Glen, CA “Tick Tock” by Morgan Dodd, 13, Portland, OR “When Mark Went Missing…” by Daniel Shorten, 9, Mallow, Ireland “Lifeless Vessels” by Ismini Vasiloglou, 11, Atlanta, GA “The Butterfly” by Michela You, 11, Lexington, MA  You can brace yourselves and read the winning entries for this week below, and catch up with previous weeks’ contests and winners at the Flash Contest Winners Roll page. Katherine Bergsieker, 12Denver, CO In the Light of the Red Moon Katherine Bergsieker, 12 When the light of the red moon Illuminates the night You can see what normally stays tucked away, Hidden. The tree, unveiling Its gnarled branches To grab unsuspecting people. The bird without a head That only dares to come out When protected by the red moon’s light. The flowers, digging Themselves up, Through their dehydrated roots. The grass, silently Whispering gibberish That must mean something To someone. And a girl, all alone In the eerily silent Lake, Unaware of the odd actions From those around her. Looking ghastly As the starlight and red moon Highlight her almost lifeless eyes, She treads water Effortlessly. A part of her face Chips off into the water. Then another. “It is time,” She whispers In her own language, Blowing a kiss to the lake. She lifts her head Up to the stars, Softly murmuring. The stars shift As though in a Ghostly, parallel Universe. Then they grab the girl, Pulling her towards them. Her hair floats underneath her, Her eyes peacefully closed, Looking as though She is lying on a board, Arms outstretched. But she isn’t. She’s floating. Tiny bits and pieces Of her Permanently embedded into the lake, As dark as the night sky that it rests underneath, Singing chilling songs To the girl Flying In the dark, Forgotten Atmosphere, Illuminated by the ghostly light Of the red moon. Fern Hadley, 11 Cary, NC Something Peculiar Fern Hadley, 11   Meleah Goldman, 10Oakland, CA Shattered Meleah Goldman, 10 The perfect duplicate of myself, looking back at me with piercing blue eyes, through the fragile glass of a mirror. I confide in her my every move. Her rippleless dark hair sun kissed skin her muted face identical to mine. Reflections, mysterious and eerie things. You in another parallel land, Does she know what world my thoughts have created; what I am saying? I try to touch the girl in the mirror as she tries to touch me yet only feel the cold, stinging, hardened surface of the glass. I look back at my own stabbing blue eyes. I hear a crack The mirror shatters. The fragmented remains of the mirror Shows my own reflection, Now cracked and frail. In the jagged edges of the mirror, I see a silhouette that is not mine. Eyes like bottomless black holes; forever churning in hunger. Its alarmingly faded face . . . Thump . . . Thump . . . THUMP Ella Yamamura, 12Cary, NC Count Them Down Ella Yamamura, 12       Keira Zhang, 12Belmont, MA A Little Off Keira Zhang, 12 The sun bounced off of her ivory skin This was a day to forget about him Best friends till death he lied In the end, there was no surprise Everyone she loved, left her; the word she came to know was: betray But she would try to forget about it today There was a new fair not too far Maybe the happiness would drag her out the dark Not a single cloud in sight The sun gleamed oh, so bright Kids littered the place Licking ice cream with a smiling face But even with the pastel candy floss Even with the famous ring toss Even with screams of adrenaline Even with the popcorn tins There was something off about this place Something a little off about this case Everyone was too happy Something about this world felt nasty As she looked around once more She saw something that made her sick to the core Their