emo.

This is a very powerful poem that is well done. It is evocative, spare and has great images. It has rhythm. It is everything that a good poem should be. It is also searing....

We had some debate at the YWP as to what to do with this poem. As a veteran of many years at newspapers -- and the person helping us build the YWP newspaper pages also has spent several decades at newspapers -- we were concerned by one line "he takes a razor blade to his wrist..."

Teen suicide is a tragic problem. Newspapers are very very careful about how they deal with this topic. For instance, in my career I have made decisions NOT to write about a teenager's death because it was a suicide. And I've been in locations where a teen's suicide have sparked other suicides. In the last analysis, we felt that it was too much to publish in a newspaper. It is a conservative view (not in the political sense); we opted to not publish in the paper but instead to publish it here on the Web. However, we are sending the poem to your local paper to see what their thoughts are on the poem. (We didn't have time to send it to them before deciding how to do the page. A deadline thing.)

You may disagree with our decision. Over the last several years of doing this project there have been only a couple of times when we felt that a piece was too edgy for "family" newspapers. And we were reassured that this piece was clearly viewed and submitted by a teacher.

Regardless, this is a very strong piece of writing. We hope we see more from the author and hope that she understands our decision.

geoff gevalt
ywp editor