the power of imagination

Poetry·Madeline Male — A concrete poem creates stars from periods across the page, ending with 'A memory of Joy' as the final constellation in a starless night.

Poetry·Lindsay Gale — Three distinct portraits of rain capture its varied moods: mystical mist, violent tempest, and bleak drizzle, each rendered through precise sensory language.

Poetry·Mary Gomes — A child's meditation on the beauty of the name Paulina spirals into wonder about meaning, naming, and the limits of knowledge.

Poetry·Ian Maduff — Light reflecting off wet pavement on a stormy night transforms into lasers, fountains, and aurora borealis in the speaker's imagination.

Story·Emory Lim — A field guide to endangered fairy species reveals how moonglow, willow, and honeybee fairies serve as keystone species in their ecosystems, calling for conservation action.

Story·Kana Shackelford — A four-year-old befriends a dryad living in the lilac bushes, but on her eighth birthday discovers she's grown too old to see her magical friend anymore.

Poetry·Anna Weinberg — A child mistakes an airplane for a star while making a wish, then decides the plane will carry the wish across the world instead.

Personal Narrative·Rachel Jess Bueker — On a windy gray beach day, a girl transforms driftwood into a pirate ship, discovering sea glass and the power of imagination along the way.

Poetry·Alice Robinson-McVety — A found silver button with a swirl pattern becomes a portal to imagined water, its unknown owner haunting the speaker's meditation on the small, lost object.

Poetry·Nova Macknik-Conde — During a car ride to a new home, a child imagines creating an elaborate roof garden filled with flowers, vegetables, and herbs.