the passage of time

Poetry·Rhône Galchen, age 11 — A solitary figure contemplates a metaphorical mountain that blocks their path, yearning for waves of change while trapped between states of black and white.

Story·Hudson Benites, age 11 — In a climate-ravaged future, an old person who preserved each season in jars watches a child accidentally break one, releasing spring back into the world.

Story·Andrew Wu, age 11 — A philosophical narrative following four reincarnated beings—seed, insect, fish, and bear—each discovering Nature's cyclical patterns of creation, destruction, and renewal through their brief lives.

Poetry·Grace Jiang, age 11 — A seed becomes a rose that grows tall as a dog, then withers each winter and returns, cycling through seasons year after year.

Poetry·Grace Jiang, age 11 — A year cycles through the seasons as Little Deer grows from playful fawn to father, echoing his own father's words about preparing for winter.

Story·Mia Fang, age 13 — After her father loses his job and joins the military, Lily struggles with anger and guilt until the day a messenger arrives with devastating news.

Poetry·Patrick Lusa, age 11 — A counting poem tracks a day's progression from winter owls at 2 a.m. through summer heat, using numbers to structure observations of daily life.

Poetry·Anya Geist, age 12 — A nocturnal tour through a small town captures the quiet life of buildings, objects, and creatures after dark, from creaking floorboards to a bobbing pond raft.

Story·Dennis Losett, age 11 — A family hiking near Sorrento encounters a brown dog they name Figadindi after local cactus pears, who accompanies them through changing landscapes before disappearing as quietly as he appeared.

Poetry·Vidhat Kartik, age 9 — A young poet cycles through the seasons with rhyming couplets, capturing each season's distinctive markers from falling leaves to fireworks to hibernating bears.