identity

Story·Arabella McClendon, age 13 — Alien scouts investigate Earth, finding a planet too corrupt to rehabilitate but too good to destroy, so they quarantine it until humanity can heal itself.

Poetry·Maya Wolfford, age 13 — Natural elements—waterfall, brambles, ocean, rose—hide their true natures behind false facades until one rose's kindness earns it the gift of beauty.

Story·Allie Aguila, age 13 — A man seeking escape from anxiety tries experimental goggles that restore childlike imagination, but stays too long and encounters darkness that threatens to consume him.

Story·Thomas Faulhaber, age 13 — In a world where middlenames determine destiny, a boy named Robin Burke struggles with his musical heritage until riots against the naming system expose its fundamental flaw.

Poetry·Sterling Waterfield, age 11 — A young philosopher questions why things are named what they are, why humans dominate, and ultimately decides to accept the world's strange design.

Poetry·Rebecca Beaver, age 13 — A speaker confronts the loss of their heart to the moon, becoming a whisper of their former self in this surreal exploration of identity and emptiness.

Poetry·Ana Carpenter, age 10 — A girl imagines being queen of the world, floating above in moonlight and clouds, but discovers the weight of such power and chooses ordinary life instead.

Poetry·Tommy Swartz, age 12 — A 12-year-old's anxious inner monologue cycles through worries about jokes, death, regrets, and daily stresses in short, punchy lines.

Story·Rhianna Searle, age 12 — After Trump's 2016 election, two sixth-grade best friends—one Democrat, one Republican—struggle when politics threatens their friendship, until a handmade bracelet offers reconciliation.

Poetry·Gilbert Huang, age 9 — A boy's stream of anxious questions about loneliness, belonging, and fear spirals into a plea for connection and normalcy.