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.
Dear New York City
Galya Siegel-Bromberg, 14, Thetford
Dear New York City,
I don’t know what it is
that makes me love you so much.
Maybe it’s the buildings
that stretch toward the sky,
forever reaching upward.
Or maybe it’s the noises and the lights,
each one belonging to somebody.
The light of the car is for the girl
who just had her first date.
The light from the window is for the manager
who hates staying up late but loves the job.
The laughter of friends,
the horns of people with places to be.
Maybe it’s the diversity.
Everyone is their own person –
different faces, styles, personalities.
Everyone is on their own path,
and yet they still connect.
They connect when they share a seat
on the subway
or stand in line for pizza.
I don’t know what it is…
but I do know that
the tall buildings feel like a home
I never knew I had.
I know that
the lights and noises
comfort me
despite the unfamiliarity.
I know that
every person interests me,
and I want to know
what it’s like to lead each of their lives.
I know that
surrounded by chaos,
I feel a sense of peace,
a sense of longing
to hold on to that feeling
forever.
I know that
when I leave,
the buildings,
the noises and lights,
the people
fill my dreams,
and I dream that
one day
the home I didn’t know existed
becomes the home I live in.
Sincerely,
The girl from a little town in the middle of nowhere
