About the Young Writers Project
YWP, an independent nonprofit based in Burlington, Vermont, engages young people to write and use digital media to express themselves with clarity and power and to gain confidence and skills for the workplace and life. YWP publishes about 1,000 students’ work each year here, in newspapers across Vermont, on Vermont Public Radio and in YWP’s monthly digital magazine, The Voice. Since 2006, it has offered young people a place to write, explore and connect online at youngwritersproject.org, which has only one rule: Be respectful. For more information, please contact YWP executive director Geoffrey Gevalt at ggevalt@youngwritersproject.org.
Sophia Cannizzaro, a 15-year-old homeschooler from West Glover, says she wrote this piece when she was away from home and thinking about what she missed. “I was recently in Boston, and sorely missing the orchard at home where I can go to space out and sleep and be alone or be with my friend, all the while eating apples off of the ground.”
Apples
By Sophia Cannizzaro
[R]ummage among the blades
to find the fruit,
some spotted, some mushy,
some inhabited by worms.
Choose.
Choose the one that appeals
to your eyes.
Choose.
Choose the one that stands out
from the rest
for whatever
reason.
Choose.
They are all imperfect.