best 06-07

Editor's note: Rebecca recorded this piece for Vermont Public Radio in the summer of 2007 as part of the YWP/VPR "My Life" series. Do you have a story about your life? Do you want to be on radio? For more, click here.

My Teacher
By Rebecca Landell
I can still see her there, on the front steps, standing by her son. She wasn't beautiful. No, she wasn't beautiful, but she was lovely. Her arms would be crossed, her carrot-red hair brushing her shoulders, and she would be saying - as she always did when I thanked her at the end of a lesson - "It's a pleasure."

By Maureen Spicer
Dummerston Elementary School, Grade 8

there is this key
this key is
special to me
it leads you to
unmarked land

By Gretchen Kaija
Woodstock Union High School, Grade 10

Tarnished, dusty, old
Hidden from the light of day
Long-forgotten key

How do you do it?

By Angela Wood
Colchester High School, Grade 9

Dear Mr. President,

I’m not exactly sure what to say in a letter to someone who has such an effect on all of our lives. You seem so distant, yet every decision you make affects us somehow. I can’t imagine what it is like to have the responsibility of a nation on your shoulders. You work as hard as any other man, probably harder, and yet the consequences of your choices affect so much more than those of the average worker. How do you do it?

Potty Talk
By Izzy Moody
Monkton Central School, Grade 4

“Flight number 16/24 from gate 25 has been delayed.” A woman said from the intercom. I slouched down into the green bench I was sharing with my little sister Theresa. Ugh. A baby near by was wailing his little head off. I felt bad for his mom. I felt bad for me. I felt bad for flight 16/24. Theresa dug her elbow into my stomach.

“Ugh.” I groaned.

“Potty, potty, potty!” Theresa sang, removing her, sweaty, bony butt from my lap. I think my feet were asleep because when my “oh so cute little sister” landed on my toe, I felt nothing.
Theresa skipped and sang, “Goin’ to the potty, the potty, the potty!” and skipped away, dragging me after her, ugh. We finally arrived at the woman’s restrooms after a lot of zigzagging around, and sometimes through people. “Potty!” Theresa yelled and led the way into the bathroom. I thought that I might as well go myself since we were there. I heard a lady talking in the stall next to me.

The room
By Charlotte Reber
Lamoille Union High School, Grade 10

“And this is my workshop,” said Parral, leading me into another room. The lights flicked on as we entered, and I found myself in a short, square room, made of a pale yellow stone, with columns in the corners that rose up to support the beams running below the pyramid-shaped roof. There were triangular skylights set neatly into the slanted ceiling, with tinted glass that gave the room a pleasant, yellowish ambient light, reflecting off the piles of junk and odd objects that were scattered all over the room.

“I really haven’t cleaned this place up in a while,” Parral said, shoving a crate of oranges off a chair and settling behind the large, curved desk of dark polished wood which appeared to be the cleanest part of the room. He leaned back in his chair and sighed. “Oh, watch out behind you.”

I jumped and looked behind me, then leapt out of the way as a chain of colored Chinese lanterns fell from one of the beams to dangle where I had been standing a moment ago.

By Colin Doherty
Champlain Valley Union High School, Grade 11

By Noah Brautigam
Green Mountain Valley School, Grade 12

There’s poetry in her hips,
Speaking to me,
Rhythm and flow.

Pendulums swinging
from her shoulders,
Sheathed in the brightest yellow I have ever seen.
Cadence matched by
the sway and flirt of her hair,
Yellow.

Even as is dances away from me.

Yellow is the sun,
Base orb.
There is no pain in yellow.

What is a weapon?
By Angela Wood
Colchester High School, Grade 9

A firearm.
Rifles.
Handguns.
Shotguns.
Cannons and tanks and heavy artillery.
Tools of destruction war.

A blade.
Swords
Daggers
Pocket knives
Steak knives
Butcher knives
Butter knives
Tools of use in the house, yet still so dangerous.

Spigelbilder
By Margo Adams
Champlain Valley Union High School, Grade 11

The world was warm when wrapped and secure in my mother’s arms. A small beady-eyed creature rested before me clad in the same animal printed blanket that kept the chill from my tiny body. Maybe my mother cooed to me as she rocked me back and forth before the reflective surface. I saw myself being cuddled tenderly. My mind only knew of the love that guided my gentle descent in life.

New Life Born
By Liz Dion
Hartford Memorial Middle School, Grade 8

Eyeliner in my pocket
using it has made my vision blurry
Now I am near-sighted
with no money for glasses,
or a New Baby

The cold wind on my cheek
Blowing through my hair,
I stand
Waiting, on a park bench
I’m not sure for what

Just waiting.
Waiting

Gay is not a Disease
By Michelle Coburn
Oxbow High School, Grade 10

It really ticks me off
When people try to act like god
The hurtful things they say
All because this boy is gay
They have no right to judge
They have no reason to hold a grudge
He is sweet and he is kind
How can everyone be so blind

Boxed In
By Emma Redden
Leland and Gray Union High School, Grade 9

My vocabulary consists of
Five words from the time
I step into my plastic casket
Until it is time for me to
Reincarnate myself.

My one sided conversations consist of
Four syllable sentences.
The first few words a kindergartener
Learns when playing store.

The Toilet
By Erica Lash
Champlain Valley Union High School, Grade 11

School MY Way
By Cheshta Singh
Albert D. Lawton School, Grade 6

If I could change one thing about my school it would be for kids to rule the school not teachers. I mean, who wants to learn about algebra or when Fidel Castro overthrew Batista? Borrrrriiiiiiinnnnnnggggggg. Snore. If I were principal, I would do more funner things like take a field trip to Hawaii occasionally and surf the waves. Why study about Antarctica when you can visit Antarctica? For math instead of finding an area of a rectangle we would bake brownies and who cares about the area? I would just eat it in one gulp.

Mission: Federline
By Natasha Wood
Hartford High School

“Helllloooo Washington D.C.! It’s 9 o’clock, 63 degrees and you’re listening to SM92. Are you ready to hear this weeks SM92 giveaway? This week is a special contest. Kevin Federline has volunteered one day of his busy and famous life to spend it with one lucky winner. That winner could be you! All you have to do is call in sometime this week with the correct answer to this question: Several years ago Kevin Federline refused, when asked, the lead role of what now famous movie? The number to call is …”
“Ohmygawd,” President Bush screeched, thinking, to himself, how much fun a day with Kevin Federline would be. “I have to win that contest!”

There was a time
Long ago
When I had giggled,
And she had laughed.

Her tall freckled figure,
Wrinkled and old.
My tiny pink body,
Frail and new.

Her callused feet
Comfy in soft warn slippers.
My small feet,
Cute mini toes wrapped in knit booties.

Her ankles and shins
Rough and chapped from dry winter air.
My plump ones,
Ready for developing new muscles.

Going down Cold Tree Hill
By Charlotte Dworshak
Burlington High School, Grade 10

I scrape the snow off my skis as I sit on the chair and wait. It is made of metal that has been turned white with the frigid air. I think about how cold it was last night and how the chair must have been in the middle of the night. I shiver at the thought. I look at my torn gloves and ball my hands up to keep them warm. A gust of wind comes as I protect my face by tipping it down. It is snowing in big clumps, and I try to catch one on my tongue. I do; it instantly melts like cotton candy. I stare straight at the falling snow and watch it tease me by coming straight at my goggles but never hitting them.

A unique celebration: A Wiccan night

By Camille Bower
Camels Hump Middle School, Grade 8

I crack my window open slightly, and the crisp feeling of almost-winter washes over me, causing goosebumps to pepper my skin. The darkness seeps through my room like magic, which, I think to myself, it is. Tonight, the world is magic.

By Megan Wooster
Benson Village School, Grade 8

My future,
Is just a chapter in the book
I call life
A chapter,
That is just a mere scribble
In a notebook
An idea,
That has yet
To be unfolded
A mystery,
To be discovered by chance
Pro Softball,
Just a dream
To be made real
Architectural Engineering,
A design that was
Drawn in my mind
Forensics,
A thought
That crept up on me

Kaiya's poem was chosen for an honorable mention in our songWriters Project.

Your Love
By Kaiya Provost
Colchester High School, Grade 9

I still can’t choose between
My heart and my old memory
One’s crying out and one is almost gone
I can’t explain this feeling
I have found another like you
But part of me refuses to move on

Diana's song received honorable mention in the Young songWriters Project.

Spin Cycle
By Diana Marchessault
Colchester High School, Grade 9

Another sunrise
Another sunset
Another night with
Stars faded out under gray clouds

Lillian worked with Pete Sutherland on her song which is not quite completed. Once it is, it will be posted here and will be performed, perhaps on First Night in Burlington.

Waterfall in Winter
(A Villanelle)
By Lillian Teale
Bishop Marshall School, Grade 8

Sparkle, shimmer, splinter,
Running over rock and boulder
Waterfall in winter

This was one of the three selected by the professional musicians for creation of music. Elana plans to perform this song, with a recording of her accompaniest and fellow composer Jon Gailmor, on Saturday, May 19,at the Young Tradition Concert on Waterfront Park, Burlington. (The concert is from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.)

I’m Dancing
By Elana Valastro
Tuttle Middle School, Grade 6

I feel the air upon my face,
My mind is in another place;
As I glide across the floor,
It’s my favorite time once more;
Toes are pointed, body’s straight,
Feelin’ happy, feelin’ great;
I’m dancing.

This piece was one of three winners of the first Young songWriters Project. This poem has been put to music by musician Diana Winn Levine and will be performed sometime this summer or fall.

By Rebecca Landell
Homeschooled, Grade 12

I was walking down the road
‘Til I came to a hole,

More to Do
By Devon Thiele
The Mountain School at Winhall, Grade 5

Life without t.v.
Is pretty cool with me
There many other things to do
Such as crafts with sticky glue
Riding my bike
Taking a hike
Yah, I think that will do...
How about you?

Regionals
By Lucy Skinner
Richmond Middle School, Grade 7

'Under God' Goes
By Kelsey Soto
Rutland Middle School, Grade 8

Dear Editor,

I feel that “under God” should be removed from the pledge of allegiance. I believe that it totally goes against the Constitution. I found that this is very rude to people who don’t believe in God.