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.
Ask a Floridian, Texan or Californian what they think of when they think Vermont, and they’re all likely to give you the same answers: snow, skiing. and maple syrup, of course. It’s our lifeblood, after all. This week’s featured poet, Wyatt Moyer of Starksboro, offers us a behind-the-scenes peek into the place where all the magic happens, come spring: a sugaring shack.
Sugaring
Wyatt Moyer, 15, Starksboro
Steam rises from the chimney
with an innocent,
“Come hither,”
and into the cerulean-blue sky.
You feel drawn toward it
like a moth to a porch light
on a warm June evening.
“Come hither.”
Upon entrance,
the sweet aroma
and humid air
hit your face like a wave of Log Cabin –
but you’re here for something better.
“Come hither.”
The jolly, old man
with the large, white mustache,
and the quiet, young man,
with his own mustache,
greet you with a smile.
“Come hither.”
You get a taste of the sweet stuff,
fresher than a cow’s milk off the udder.
The taste of Vermont is
“come hither.”
