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.
Spend five minutes listening to the news station of your choice, and the truth becomes undeniable: We are living in a country fractured by politics, the economy and shifting schools of thought. But that is not to say we are without hope of weathering the storm together, and mending bridges along the way. This week’s featured poet, Teddy Owens of Essex, still retains the ideals necessary for just such an undertaking — and plans to help shape the world for the better.
A river of tears
Teddy Owens, 14, Essex
Every day when we stand for the pledge, I feel like a curtain has fallen over me,
holding me down.
I remember who our president is for the next four years.
And I want to cry.
I want to sit down and cry a river of tears.
Because sometimes dread and fear grip me and I want the world to stop and let me be sad.
I want the world to let me cry a river of tears.
Then when I am done, I want the world to know that I am now ready for anything it hurls my way.
I want the world to know that I can do anything I put my mind to.
And that it should not underestimate what this generation can do.
What we will do.
And I believe that to be: try our best to make the world a better place, and never give up.
