birds

Poetry·Rainer Pasca, age 9 — A nine-year-old observes a river scene at an arboretum, recording nature's details while a speedboat disrupts the peaceful meditation of water, birds, and trees.

Story·Ermeen Choudhury, age 12 — A girl forced to move from her beloved bedroom runs into the woods, where blue jays sing a song that helps her understand home is carried in memory.

Poetry·Sylvia Gibson, age 13 — A teenager contemplating suicide finds reasons to live in small miracles like birds taking flight and children's first steps, offering her words as a gift.

Poetry·Gabrielle Mott, age 8 — Peace arrives like moonlight through a window, then expands into visions of mountain streams, glass-still pools, and fields where doves coo sweetly.

Poetry·Wujun Ke, age 13 — Dawn breaks through trees as birds find their perches, while the speaker breathes in the ancient scents of maple and oak between dreams and waking.

Poetry·Alyssa Cho — Dawn breaks through trees as birds find their perches, while the speaker breathes in the ancient scents of maple and oak between dreams and waking.

Poetry·Wujun Ke, age 13 — Dawn light travels through trees as birds find their perches and begin singing, while the speaker breathes in the ancient scents of maple and oak.

Poetry·Olivia Mulley — Dawn light travels through trees to open eyes as birds find their perches and begin singing, while ancient scents drift through an open window.

Poetry·Julia Lipkis, age 12 — A meadow scene unfolds through precise natural imagery — wilting wildflowers, grazing deer, gossiping birds, and wind whispering secrets over bent corn.

Story·William Gwaltney, age 11 — A boy discovers a sea turtle nesting on an evening beach walk and spends his summer secretly protecting the eggs until they hatch.