seeing beauty in the ordinary

Poetry·Gabe Horowitz, age 10 — A swan gliding across a lake becomes a meditation on how serenity can expand from a single creature to transform an entire landscape.

Personal Narrative·Lydia Taylor, age 13 — A family camping trip to Yellowstone becomes a magical adventure as siblings explore forests, witness the Grand Prismatic Spring, and create their own riverside kingdom.

Story·Rose Amer, age 10 — A girl who hates her ugliness wishes on a star to bring her stone gargoyle to life, then learns through painful transformations that she was already beautiful.

Story·Maggie Shelton, age 12 — Dawn breaks over a sleeping town, awakening colors, sounds, and smells as families gather for breakfast in homes around the world.

Poetry·Esther Hay, age 8 — A morning walk through a dewy forest becomes a sensory journey as cold droplets fall from flowers and trees, chilling the narrator.

Story·Lucy Laird, age 12 — A melodramatic sixth-grader faces her turn at kickball, convinced she'll die of embarrassment, spiraling through existential revelations before being saved by the lunch bell.

Poetry·Adele Stamenov, age 10 — A moment of anxiety dissolves into calm through the ritual of making tea, where milk clouds float in their own suspended world.

Poetry·Evangeline Flynn, age 10 — A small boat drifts on crystal waters under a rainbow sky, its peaceful rocking motion mesmerizing the observer in this watercolor-inspired meditation.

Poetry·Galen Halasz, age 13 — A young writer confronts human hypocrisy and self-righteousness, building to the admission that we're all guilty of the stupidity we see in others.

Poetry·Chloe Ma, age 9 — The moon as a silver bead on the sky's necklace slides into view each night, casting reflected light before giving way to the golden sun.