identity

Personal Narrative·Claire Jiang, age 12 — A girl contemplates the unnamed plants around her house, finding in their seasonal color changes a mirror for her own shifting moods.

Poetry·Talia E. Moyo, age 10 — A young writer catalogs the places that shaped her — from African deserts to New Jersey beaches, Zimbabwe's Victoria Falls to French villages — weaving family, food, and a beloved...

Poetry·Sofia Dardzinski, age 9 — A meditation on time through the perspective of a clock, whose red hand moves endlessly through numbers, carrying promises and memories without limits.

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.

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 poem explores the paradox of someone who embodies contradictions — friend and enemy, peaceful yet at war, standing perpetually between opposing states.

Poetry·Tatiana Rebecca Shrayer, age 13 — A cast iron staircase in a restored Russian school is the only original element remaining, holding memories of young women who once descended with diplomas and dreams of freedom.

Poetry·Tatiana Rebecca Shrayer, age 13 — A trumpet teacher arrives for lessons but instead of teaching, drinks espresso and talks about his Sicilian homeland, Mount Etna, and the village where he feels at home.

Poetry·Tatiana Rebecca Shrayer, age 13 — A key narrates its existence from hanging on a hook to being lost forever when it falls from a bag onto a cold white floor.

Poetry·Tatiana Rebecca Shrayer, age 13 — Hope personified as an ambiguous companion who guides the speaker across treacherous terrain while knowing them intimately.