[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.
“It is through our names that we first place ourselves in the world,” American author Ralph Ellison wrote. And whether given to us or chosen, they are sewn into the very fabric of our identity. This week’s featured poet, Zoe Bernstein of Jericho, immerses her readers in a land of pure whimsy as she muses over the relationship between one’s name, qualities, and sense of self.
The name snatcher
By Zoe Bernstein, 15, of Jericho
The faerie flitted down from the rafters
to perch on a girl’s gold gingham gown.
It plucked up a handful of wildflowers
and with deft fingers wove a chicory crown.
“I pronounce you Queen of the Faeries,
a beauty to put words to shame,
and I can assure they’ll genuflect to you
if only you gift me your name.”
While yes the young lass was real pretty,
with blond hair and clear, shiny eyes,
to judge by a face is a fatal mistake,
for she was also funny and cunning and wise.
“A me without my name is no me at all,
my soul bandersnatched with just a word.
So keep the crown and I’ll keep my name.
It can go on just being unheard.”
At this the fae’s smile turned to a grimace.
“The consequence will be rather severe.
We both want names to return to our homes with,
so I guess for a while, you’re stuck here.”
No one can lie to a faerie,
or else your tongue is torn from your beak.
So the girl thought for several hours
before she opened her mouth to speak.
“I am the whisper of wind in the willows,
the anchor that binds a boat to the sea.
My love is stronger than a father’s promise,
and now that I’ve told you my names, I am free.”
The faerie’s laugh turned to a startled cry,
as the girl’s tongue was not torn in two.
“But how?” she cried, and the girl replied,
“Because everything I said is true.”
I am the pride in a group of lions,
I’m a winter ocean, glassy and serene.
And someday I’ll have a real ruby crown
and won’t have to pretend that I’m queen.
