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This week, we present responses to the following challenges:
School2020. Well, it’s here – school’s back. Write about your experience as the pandemic continues. Compare this year to other “normal” years. What has changed or remains the same as last spring?
Sunset. Watch the sunset at dusk and write a poem, take pictures, or create a piece of art inspired by it, rendering as much vivid description or detail as possible.
General Writing
Prompt: School2020
Welcome back!SHISI DAI
Age 15, Thetford Center
Welcome,
for being healthy and bringing hope.
Welcome,
for being patient and respecting rules.
Welcome,
for being positive and trusting the school.
We had gotten tired of coming here,
but now we are ecstatic to have the opportunity to be here.
Instead of remote learning,
we can physically step into the classroom.
A beam of light sweeps over us by the window from morning till noon.
My friends say they will come back soon.
Six feet, six feet,
we stay apart but we are close in our hearts.
Masks, masks,
our own safety is worn
so nobody’s forlorn.
Hey guys,
this is a thank you.
Pay attention to your health,
and have a nice year!
Prompt: Sunset
Sinking awayMADELYN DURKEE
Age 15, Thetford
The sky started a pastel blue.
White clouds drifted by,
peering through green branches.
Mountains faded ahead.
Crickets filled the air with noise;
they left no room for other sounds.
The air was alive, but still
the sun fell behind the treetops.
Pale orange streaked the sky.
Slowly orange shifted to red
and red faded to purple.
Darkness began to drift down.
The sun didn’t set a fire;
it left its colors quietly.
It sank into the darkness,
sank away as if underwater.
Prompt: General
Give me wordsEden Anne Bauer
Age 16, Hanover
Give me words,
those glittering consonants,
syllables rolling off your tongue,
phrases rising and falling
like ocean waves,
rushing to your point on the shore
before they pull back
and rush away.
Give me words,
tell me how the world works,
why the sky is blue,
why I miss you.
Please give me words,
tell me it's going to
be okay,
that
we will see another day,
that tomorrow will be
brighter and better than we
ever could have hoped.
Give me so many words
that I fill up like a balloon,
and drift up and up and up
and up
into that impossibly beautiful
blue sky,
then grab my hand
and pull me back down
to reality.
Give me words –
I need them to
live, to breathe.
Give me words –
I need them
to be me.