seeing beauty in the ordinary

Story·Brigid Cami, age 13 — A girl rushes through homework to spend thirty minutes by a lake, feeding ducks and contemplating the vast sky and her future.

Story·Margaret Bryan, age 12 — A cross-country runner experiences the transcendent sensation of flying during a race, moving between competitive awareness and pure physical freedom.

Poetry·Rory Lipkis, age 9 — A child walks along a canal towpath, observing nature's beauty alongside human intrusion—from dragonflies and turtles to litter and a dying fish.

Poetry·Pierie Korostoff, age 12 — Kitchen scene where paperwhites by the sink, snow outside, and magnetic poetry on the fridge create a meditation on mismatched elements that somehow belong together.

Story·Lyla Lawless, age 13 — Walking past the abandoned Finster house at dusk, a nine-year-old sees a ghostly figure in the window, only to discover it's a renovation crew preparing the Underground Railroad site for...

Poetry·Gabriel Wainio-Theberge, age 12 — Late geese flying south become a mourning choir whose honks lament autumn's end and winter's arrival, their voices mistaken for hunting hounds.

Story·William Gwaltney, age 11 — A family's Saturday night visit to a Mexican bakery becomes a sensory journey through pastries, Spanish conversations, and anticipation of Sunday's church crowds.

Poetry·Rhiannon Grodnik, age 11 — A young observer watches the sunset over San Francisco Bay, experiencing a moment of profound solitude and connection to the infinite before the city lights disappear into darkness.

Story·Emina S. Sonnad, age 12 — A girl takes her dachshund for a run on an unseasonably warm winter day, reveling in the frost-covered grass and their shared joy of movement.

Poetry·Nina Wilson, age 10 — A morning routine transforms when a redwing blackbird's song stops time on the way to the bus stop, breaking the monotony with wonder.