Rafael Pedro // CARILO, ARGENTINA

At the entrance you enter a new and unexpected place
than what you were just on for hours
From miles upon miles of flat empty grasslands
To a world of tall trees and dirt roads.
Dirt road leads you to a beach

White fluffy sand
Kids and adults playing soccer
While listening to music on speakers
Ice cream and churro vendors attract
The attention of hundreds

At your house in Carilo
The scent of asados radiate into the night sky
Laughter fills the table for hours
Where stories are told
And never forgotten

At your house in Carilo
the scent of asados radiate
into the night sky.
Laughter fills the table
for hours where stories
are told and never
forgotten

Eli Lurie // NATURE

I love being under the shadows of the trees,
The rays of bright sunlight streaming through.

I love the towering mountains above me,
Inviting me to hike them.

I love being far from civilization,
All alone with only nature around.

I love walking in the silent woods,
With only my thoughts to accompany me.

I love sleeping under the light of the stars,
In a tent, without a bed.

I love exploring the forest,
Marveling at the wildlife I find.

I love how the sunset shines on the lake,
So peaceful, calm.

I love reaching the top of the mountain,
Admiring the beautiful view in every direction.

Tara Gill // TO BE A CATERPILLAR

Let them be as butterflies
always flying around freely
but never able to change.

I’d rather be a caterpillar,
small and growing like
a sproutling.

To have a life to look forward to,
to live for myself instead of others.
To be able to explore the world
or grow to become something beautiful.

I’d rather be ugly and invisible, and
stomped on and ignored,
than to be admired for gracefully flying in the wind
where they put on a show,
fluttering about.

I’d rather be frail and stuck to the ground
than pretty and free-flying.
If I could grow and learn about the world,
I’d rather be a caterpillar.

Sunny T. // AT THE SHORE

It shimmered in the sunlight along the ocean shore,
Enjoying the peaceful afternoon.
Lazily, lying in the golden sand, sunbathing.
Feeling the freshness of the sea breezes
the waves brought.

Waves,
Crashing onto the sand,
Beating its outer shell,
To scour every trace of dirt into the sea.

From its spiral open end,
I heard the sound of the ocean,
I heard seagulls calling,
I found myself roaming in the vast blue sea.

Alexis Thomas // A DARK EVENING’S SNOW

All is awake.
A simple walk,
A trek to the unknown
A leisurely trot through the beast.

Rich flowers bloom
Colors so strong you fall,
Unidentifiable nature

Feeling the warm turquoise sky
Clouds fill your thoughts with deja vu
Sentimentality draws your eyes
To a scarlett and tangerine fire
Fire creates all life.

Landscape adapts,
Golden velvet caresses your skin
Marking the last hour of light
Fill the night with delicate lace flakes
An easy wind painting the forest,
The blackest evening of the year,
A liquid moon looks in the mirror of a glass lake.
The birth of a new beauty.
Twilight is born,
Revealing shimmering and pure glares
Leave all alone

It will be there tomorrow
When untouched
For eternity

Isabel L. // TO THE HOME

Promise… anticipation
driving down the windy roads
somewhere…
deep in New Hampshire.

The town of Wolfeboro,
surrounded by
alluring
Lake Winnipesaukee.

At last,
The dirt spits up from the back
As we make the journey down,
the everlasting dirt road.

To the home,
that I have been counting down the days
to return to.
To the home,
where I can leave all my worries behind…

It’s like a scene
out of a movie
standing there,
with bags in hand
holding a blatant
gaze.

Admiring
how it is possible
that one place can
fill my heart so endlessly

Sitting at the waterfront
seeing splashes
and smiles emerging
from little campers faces.

Joy
and family
memories
that will never be forgotten.

Shangyin A. // BUS YARD

For when the darkness comes, through the
streets it lurks.
The long bulky figures slowly disappear
inside.

In the alleyway they go, rolling past it all,
nothing to see but shadows

In the alleyway they go,
rolling past it all,
nothing to see
but shadows

Appearing anonymous to the people outside
oblivious, all is dingy within.

All are perfectly lined up, randomly with no
avail or order.
Dim lights make their way on the dirt path.

Engines running,doors slam, and all silence
follows.
The back, stalks a mountain, which can
faintly stare upon you.

Up the top of it, every movement is visible.
All slippery ice, hardened soil, and dead
leaves.

Early morning rises, and the figures come
alive. Exiting with notion. One tails the
other.
The yard drains of them, all empty… it is
what it is.

Audrey Eastridge // BIRCHROCK

I relax on the wooden dock fishing
with little Jasper, thinking
not about the four-hour drive
not how the school year is starting in a few weeks
or if I will be on dish duty after dinner.
Nothing is on my mind.

Simply the tender air of the sun
mixed with the calm breeze of the lake.
We race to the floating platform and plunge
into the open water holding on to the rush.
Others join us after hearing our cries of
glee and laughter.

We have been through so much together;
through death that came too soon, through many
days and nights in this old rickety house, through storms
that almost collapsed the trees around us.
Some of us have gone, but we have stayed strong
held each other’s hands through the worst of it
and remembered the best of it.

But today while those thoughts are in the back
of our heads, we sing and dance
to the music that we create with our hearts.
In life, there is little room to be hardened with sadness
or to be so enraged that one cannot speak.
So today we are grateful for the days to come
and the ones we will spend here in this blessed place.

Peyton Campbell // NEW HAMPSHIRE LAKEHOUSE

Sun is glaring.
Small waves brush
Against the sand.

The children laugh
In the lake that is filled
With people and toys.

Pull into the rocky driveway.
Unbuckle our seatbelts,
And run indoors.

Quickly getting dressed,
And grabbing floaties.
We most likely don’t need.

Painful feeling of
Pebbles digging into my feet.
Which fades,
Once we plunge into the lake.

Lucca W. // OVERSEAS

South of the long lake lies
A city surrounded by rock
A tower looms over the sky
Casting shadows over every block

Both lake and city are struck by storm
And thunder cracks as hail becomes thorns

Coastal waters rise and crash
As skyward islands start to quake
The calmest waves whip and thrash
And harrows the deep, blue lake

The tower stands devoid of pain
As buildings are befallen with rain
The ice cold water blitz urban sprawl
As rivers run down cracked asphalt

But bitter clouds won’t stay for long
As westerly winds push them on.
And civilization can start anew
The restart seems quite overdue