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.
How many roads
Maelyn Slavik, 15, Burlington
Orange Vans and
the green ones with
gum bottoms I
got in seventh grade and
loved to the near death of.
Yellow Chucks and
my sister’s hot pink ones.
Blazers with
yellow swooshes and pink soles,
blazer high-tops from my sister that
literally began to peel apart. I
could create a rainbow if I
put together all the places
these shoes have taken me, all
the roads I’ve walked down to learn
of the map that tracks who
I want to be.
These footsteps cover
every once-empty space.
