wonder

Poetry·Emma Hoff, age 9 — Two ekphrastic poems respond to paintings: one explores faceless figures and their mysteries, the other imagines a giantess holding sheep above the earth.

Poetry·Analise Braddock, age 10 — A young poet explores cosmic scale through parallel structures, contrasting the singular (one mind, one world) with the multiple (thousand eyes, thousand hearts).

Poetry·Analise Braddock, age 10 — A young poet stands with open hands, waiting to receive rain, life, and all the world's green until only she remains in eternal readiness.

Poetry·Analise Braddock, age 10 — A child observes others who seem to contain multitudes while affirming her own singular self—one soul, one mind, one heart against the night's thousand stars.

Story·Ellen Wu, age 7 — A child chasing fireflies discovers a magical tree hollow that transports her to space, where she collects gold to help her friend who fears darkness.

Personal Narrative·Noa McCarter, age 8 — After hitting his first double, a boy finds a rare goldfinch feather, loses it, then recovers it days later for his collection.

Poetry·Katie Furman, age 10 — A child's vision of a starlit doorway where wonder transforms darkness into clarity, eyes become windows to the soul, and grass appears dreamlike.

Poetry·Peter Shuster-Raizberg, age 7 — A young poet's repetitive meditation on the strangeness and nothingness of cactuses, built through simple observations and circular phrasing.

Personal Narrative·Jack Moody, age 10 — A peacock appears on a suburban Virginia roof, struts like it owns the place, calls to another peacock in the yard, then flies away.

Poetry·Sage Millen, age 12 — A sunset transforms into dragon fire and shattering colors, with the speaker urging readers to catch the pieces before everything ends in stars.