Overview:
This week’s Young Writers Project entry is “The Snow” by Harper Goddard, 14, of Chester. Photo is “Out Late,” by Isla Segal, 14, of Woodstock.
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.
The Snow
Harper Goddard, 14, Chester
A fresh white blanket covers the hill.
I press my palms down into the layers.
Flakes fall onto my face.
They melt fast, but the feeling stays,
that numbness that soaks the apples of my cheeks.
I take off my mittens.
The pain is worth it.
The cold overrules all.
Maybe if I lie here long enough, it will swallow me whole.
My hair turns into damp, tangled strands of amber.
My eyelashes are no longer light brown, but white.
My nose is pink, nearly sunburnt.
There’s a silence that comes with the snow,
a peace of some sort.
I’ve never known a world like this –
a tranquil world,
a worry-free world.
A world where only your breathing is heard.
It almost feels like a dream.
My heart beats quickly inside my chest.
Not in fear;
I know fear well.
It’s a different feeling.
The pond smooths over with a thick layer of ice.
The water now looks as though it’s running clean.
The plow scrapes loudly against the asphalt patch of our driveway.
The driver is inconsistent in his schedule, driving my mother mad each morning he doesn’t show.
How did I go from Santa Ana winds to this?
The universe works in mysterious ways…
Nearly everyone within our little town groans at the sight of the tiny specks falling to the ground.
“I hate winter,” they all say.
I think it’s a gift. But I’ll never tell them that.
