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.
“We are Vermont Strong,” we shout in the aftermath of July’s catastrophic floods. It’s true: We’re nothing if not a resilient bunch. This week’s featured poet, Ursa Goldenrose of Hardwick, understands just how intertwined we are in our planet’s health and happiness, and impresses upon us the paramount necessity of caring for our home the way we care for our waterlogged neighbors.
The river speaks
By Ursa Goldenrose, 13, of Hardwick
There is a web
and it holds us.
Pieces come apart,
so we help rebuild it.
We are a species
that has forgotten
our place
on the web,
so the Earth reminds us.
It shows us that
there are some lines
that we do not cross,
and if we do cross them,
the water rises,
pushing us back.
The water comes
and it takes.
It’s the destruction of what we’ve built,
but also
the reconstruction
of the natural world.
The water roars,
it cries,
and it heals,
even when we feel hurt.
It washes over land
that was stolen
and poisoned.
It warns us
as we build our walls.
The river speaks.
It wills us to understand
years of neglect,
hurt, and carelessness
that’ve seeped into the sand.
The river is strong,
stronger than us.
It will
reclaim its path,
slowly healing the world.
We are a thread
in a web that
is breaking.
We have forgotten
the path.
We have forgotten
the way
the river speaks.
It wills us to understand
this is not just our land.
