Young Writers Project is a creative, online community of teen writers and visual artists that started in Burlington in 2006. Each week, VTDigger publishes the writing and art of young Vermonters who post their work on youngwritersproject.org, a free, interactive website for youth, ages 13-19. To find out more, please go to youngwritersproject.org or contact Executive Director Susan Reid at sreid@youngwritersproject.org; (802) 324-9538.
If there is no sunshine without rain, there is no progress without strife. The worst of times can be the best of times to nurture the seeds of hope inside ourselves — for when the cement foundation cracks, just a little, it allows for new roots to spread and buds to sprout up through. This week’s featured poet, Maelyn Slavik of Burlington, weeds out the invasive species in her heart to make room for the blossoming of love.
Droplets forever alive
Maelyn Slavik, 14, Burlington
I’d like to garden
my own heart,
to pull the weeds of sadness
and hate
from the foundation
I sprout from,
to plant seeds of hope
and inspiration
into the soft ground of my love,
that I’ll water with the relationships
poured into my palms
by other hands with their dreams
crusted beneath their nails.
To nestle in bulbs
blushing pink with pride,
with the windburn of laughter
and the scorch of smiles shining,
letting them burrow into the glands,
sinking in their roots
and letting them intertwine
with my soul,
eventually sprouting,
blossoming next to the waterfalls
that keep me alive,
their plump,
fulfilled petals
glistening with dew and mist,
the droplets once given to me
that will never be completely absorbed,
no matter how dusty the floor gets –
because my heart
will forever be alive.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Young Writers Project: ‘Droplets forever alive’.