trees

Poetry·Irene Surprenant, age 8 — A young poet celebrates flowers with exuberant appreciation for their colors, scents, and daily presence in the natural world.

Poetry·Charlie McDermott, age 13 — Wind attempts to teach bare trees to dance, but they thrash awkwardly; the speaker wishes to become the wind's pupil instead.

Story·Marcus R. Bosley, age 10 — Ancient gods create humans and give them leaves for clothing and shelter, but when humans grow greedy and attack the gods' palace, the gods curse them to lose leaves each...

Poetry·Gwen Deutsch, age 12 — A girl watches wild horses thunder down a Wyoming mountain, experiencing the landscape through all her senses in a moment of overwhelming beauty.

Poetry·Sara Chebili, age 13 — A grandson builds a chair beside an avocado tree he planted, hoping to help his grandmother with memory loss remember their shared moments by the shore.

Poetry·Tatiana Rebecca Shrayer, age 9 — A father and daughter venture into the woods to craft a bow and arrows, transforming branches into instruments that sing and shoot arrows toward stars that scamper like foxes.

Poetry·Sophie Nerine, age 12 — A car journey through a mountain valley becomes a meditation on the overwhelming beauty of landscape and the intrusion of human presence.

Story·Claire Rinterknecht, age 12 — A grieving girl finds solace climbing her oak tree and discovers unexpected connection when a new teacher arrives who values her love of words.

Poetry·Christiana Joiner, age 11 — A girl flees anger and homework to climb her beloved tree, where rough bark and height transform fury into tears and finally clarity.

Poetry·Kate Choi, age 12 — A morning meditation in an oak tree by a brook, where the listener discovers that silence is filled with nature's whispered wisdom and calls to action.