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 a chilly drizzle is reminiscent of spring, a warm breeze of summer, and a cozy reading nook of fall, then a crackling hearth is the temperature and atmosphere of winter. There’s nothing quite like the spit and hiss of a fireplace with holiday music on in the background – or making the holiday music itself. This week’s featured poet, Maelyn Slavik of Burlington, gives us a concert of flames singing behind their grate.
The song-stoked fire
Maelyn Slavik, 14, Burlington
Smoke curls into the air,
twirling,
one thread dipping into another:
a slow waltz
with some quick steps to spark.
The band,
a careful orchestra
with some tricks up its sleeves.
The crackling of symbols
and an electric piano,
the tremolo of sap
still bubbling in logs.
The fizz and hum
of background noises
drawled by basses and cellos,
fingerboards sparkling
with flames,
neatly dusting
the sand-checkered floor
with flakes of ash,
tiny bits of notes.
The conductor sits
in the center,
one clump of paper
and cardboard,
feeding the logs,
the twigs,
soaked in the applause
of waves lapping the shore,
cheering on
the song-stoked fire.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Young Writers Project: ‘The song-stoked fire’.