[Y]oung Writers Project, an independent nonprofit based in Burlington, engages young people to write and use digital media to express themselves with clarity and power, and to gain confidence and skills for school, the workplace and life.
Check out the most recent issue of The Voice, Young Writers Project’s monthly digital magazine. Click here.
Each week, VTDigger features a writing submission – an essay, poem, fiction or nonfiction – accompanied by a photo or illustration from Young Writers Project.
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, share their photos, art, audio and video, and to explore and connect online at youngwritersproject.org. For more information, please contact Susan Reid at sreid@youngwritersproject.org.
Ben Stoll, 18, of Georgia, writes about the magic of two people, an outdoor ice rink and a puffy pink glove. This poem was among more than a dozen Young Writers Project pieces that were presented at the annual Winter Tales by Vermont Stage in Burlington this month.
Puffy Pink Glove
By Ben Stoll
[S]he took his breath away,
the way she
clung to the side
of the outdoor ice rink
trying not to slip,
and still making it
look so graceful.
His breath still gone,
he managed to
smile and beckon,
wanting her to
skate away from the safety
of the wall.
She protested shrilly,
but pushing her
bouncy brown curls
behind her ear,
she lunged at him.
He wrapped her in his arms,
and the two fought
to keep their balance.
They looked silly,
she thought,
so she laughed.
She laughed loudly.
Then softly.
She finally fell silent,
only staring into his eyes.
She placed
a puffy pink glove
onto his cheek,
just to make sure
it was all real.
His fear was over.
He didn’t make any mistakes
that scared her away.
So now he finally
let out a sigh of relief.
The cold night air
made his breath into
a white cloud,
and the mist obscured her eyes.
But that was okay.
They didn’t need to
look at one another.
They just needed to
hold on tight.