I did write a poem for this prompt, but I don't think I'll post it. Everyone's poems are incredible and I doubt, with how personal and 'mature' the poem I wrote is, that it would get posted even if I did write it and try to post it, which is completely okay! I'm excited for the next prompt and all of you guys are incredible poets! <3 Keep up the great work, you talented humans!!

you and me perched on the rooftops

just children who thought the world was a wonder made for them

watching the sun rise, light pinks and purples and blues all swirling together

a promise of our future

back then, when the world was young and the day had just begun

i felt i could be anything with you

it's funny how foolish a child's hope seems amidst the flames

when it radiates out from the ruins

because though we live on despite the burns

our dreams are ash at our feet and the world we once loved is dead

_____________________________________________ 

This poem looked so cool in my google doc, but I had to change the line spacings so it would make a small amount of sense once posted :( 

IT HAS ARRIVED! all your poems were *so good* and it was extremely difficult to judge this round. thank you for your submissions; they were all beautiful and i'm so glad i got to read them :) beginning with honorable mentions, in no particular order as always:

HONORABLE MENTION: CRANBERRY!

Cranberry this is so good ahhhh! I love how it talks about regrets—while “when we were younger” invites nostalgia, people do not always make the right choices. For once, the friend is not the one who did something wrong—and the speaker is plagued by what they did to hurt said friend. They’re rather haunted by the mistake they made. I think that this kind of represents the imperfections of most friendships--where both people make mistakes, but both people learn from it. And honestly I think we’ve all been the bad friend whether we knew it at the time or not. this is such an honest(?) poem and I love it <3

HONORABLE MENTION: PERIWINKLE

ahhhh so relatable :( it’s really sad that some of my best friends from elementary school I haven’t even talked to in years. The opening lines of this are so powerful—“I’ve been thinking about you / Probably more than you do about me”. I feel like this is a bit of an alternate perspective from WordSong’s poem—in it, the speaker talks about how they used to think that their friendship was struggling because the speaker grew up and their friend didn’t. But here, the speaker talks about being left behind, rather instead of them being the one who grew up, the friend is the one who did. I love how you can really feel how much the speaker misses their old friend, here. amazing poem <3

HONORABLE MENTION: WORDSONG

adsjhgljsdhjfhaldsh this is so relatable. one of my best friends I’ve known since the first day of kindergarten, and as we’ve grown up our interests have just kind of gone different directions. And like she’s still someone I can have a lot of fun with and laugh with, but we talk about things we’ve done in the past and catch up, like in your story. I guess I’ve kind of come to terms with the idea that she’s not going to be my best friend forever, but we can still be friends, you know? Maybe I’ll have other friends I’d talk to first, but she’s still my friend. But I love the idea that “You’ve grown up with me, but our friendship hasn’t.” That so perfectly sums up what happened to it—good luck, and this is beautiful <3

HONORABLE MENTION: ANONYMOUS POET

ahhh this is so SAD shdagjhldhflasd but first of all can i just say you’re an *amazing* poet. I feel like this is a slice out of middle school life ahaha if this actually happened to you I’m really sorry I can say firsthand that it sucks :( but on other notes I love how it follows the speaker and the friend through all six summers through the little things. It’s so personal but nostalgic and somehow something everyone can relate to. it’s lovely <3

*drumroll please*

THIRD PLACE: PANCAKE!

I LOVE THIS. it has a quiet childlike innocence that’s purely nostalgia—and it stays in that picture-perfect moment, or compilation of all the perfect moments. It never tells you what happens after, if the “we” got their happy ending or if they broke up or if they got married or if they had a fight or grew apart or stayed best friends. It’s a mishmash of random things and memories and somehow the effect is beautiful—and I think that really paints a picture of the friendship detailed in the poem. Random memories thrown together to create something beautiful. It’s lovely—AND ALSO. YOU MADE IT RHYME. I AM SO IMPRESSED. AND IT SOUNDS GOOD AND NOT STUPID. applause to you; i could never ahahaha you’re an AMAZING poet! keep writing <3

SECOND PLACE: PHOENIX TEARS!

SAHJDSHAGKJSHDFASD WHAT this is so good. It’s short and not exactly sweet, and the last line packs so much punch. I love how the tone shifts from nostalgic and hopeful to sad and almost scornful? Like the speaker is dismissing their past self as naïve and foolish but maybe at the same time wishes they could go back in time and be that person again. I love how the two contradicting tones blur together into one so well—you did a really good job with that. I also really like how the lines “our dreams are ash at our feet and the world we once loved is dead” and “back then, when the world was young and the day had just begun” contrast—it gives the idea that this speaker has been through a lot. And even though there is a “you” I don’t think the “you” is the focus of the poem. It’s interesting how you started with a “you” and an “i” but ended with a “we”—in the beginning, maybe it was about “you” and “i”, but at the end it’s just about fallen dreams and broken worlds and still surviving. It’s a really interesting take on the theme, because instead of positive nostalgia, it’s rather negative nostalgia, if that makes any sense ahaha. Lovely job <3

FIRST PLACE: JAYBELLS!

aHHH Jay I love this so muchhhh. I love how it’s kind of a journey of growing up; how in the beginning things are beautiful but life is not all beautiful, and so then it’s horrifying—but life is not all horrible and we move on, and so then it’s beautiful again, but in a different way—the last lines are beautiful in their resilience, while the first lines are beautiful in their youth and antiquity. The repetition of the word “of” adds a lot, I think—it draws similarities from each description, so that even the most horrible and jarring ones somehow have something in common with the most beautiful. I like that it ends on a bittersweet note—not happy, but it’s not the end of the story, so maybe it will be, eventually. I don’t know ahaha but everything you said in this poem is so powerful but said in such a beautiful and/or jarring way. The first lines are so nostalgic and not universal, exactly (for example I live in a big city so no fireflies), but the feeling they capture is. It’s something most people can relate to. I love how the middle lines are really ambiguous, too—rather than specifically describe a certain thing the speaker’s gone through, it just gives you snippets for you to craft your own story. I love the way each description kind of bleeds into the next. Amazing work <3 

Awesome job everyone! Next theme will be Winter! Broad, I know, but I'm still looking forward to everyone's entries.

Please submit everything by January 7th, and good luck!

So uh this is my poem. It is mostly about how maybe we have misunderstood winter, and how maybe it is the season that tries to be itself the most, not just something that will make people happy. Please note that the quote "good people are like candles, they will burn themselves to make others happy" or anything along those lines is not something that I came up with. It's a quote I thought went with the mood of the poem, so I threw it in there, but do not take credit for at all.

Winter

You brush your ghostly fingers 

Against the earth

In a chilling wind

Everyone shivers and pulls on their jackets,

For something so despicable could never be 

Loved

In that way we feel as we spin in the sunshine 

And run through grassy green meadows.

You drape your blanket over the skies 

To protect us

Oh, but you don’t know that all anyone wants these days

Is to fly free.

You are a giver,

Aren’t you?

You want to see others happy so you are willing to give yourself to the world

But now they are saying they don’t want you.

Good people are supposed to be like candles—

They will burn themselves for other people—

But you have always preferred the ice.

They will try to hide you and push you away, out of your true self

Because you are the only one who takes comfort in the bitter, biting cold.

Winter 

The old house,

It creaks with every

slashing, slicing, 

cold winter wind.  

But here we are,

we who are  supposed to hate

winter.

But I- we- love it.

I know you want to hate it.

And I know why.

I hated it too, 

for a while.

I know how,

she got sick,

the cold of winter,

she could not survive its 

murdrous blow,

and her heart- failed 

her.

So you-we-  turned against

the cold winds.

We tried to banish winter

from her home.

But here it is, again. 

Winter.

And i realize, 

winter is part of everyones life

death is part 

of everyones life.

And i have learned, 

to mbrace winter. 

I hope, 

I hope you will, 

too. 

Wishing Away

No matter how I wish

It is summer.

And it will be summer

Until it ends somer.

I dream of winter,

Cold, white, magnificent.

I would no longer be hot.

Winter is munificent.

Christmas and Hanukkah.

Presents and joy.

Only hot from the sweaters

Knitted for girls and boys.

Playing in the snow.

Soft yet cold.

Shimmering white flakes

Within our hold.

But no matter how I wish or think.

We are on the brink

Of summer's start.

But winter is within my heart. 

"like the evergreen trees"

all the trees have lost

their leaves in the bitter

cold, leaving them bare

and exposed to the frozen

wind, brittle soldiers who've

lost their camouflage.

they're thin and bare and

dying, stark and solid,

lifeless.

all except the evergreen trees,

which still stand tall against the cold,

dressed in needly coats of mint,

jade, olive, emerald, phthalo green.

they're lively and bright and

ready to glitter and glow in

a living-room corner, adazzle

with fairy lights and silver balls,

so full of life.

be like the evergreen trees,

hopeful

for when the cold will cease

and the shivering leafless ones

will once more don their jackets.

be like the evergeen trees,

steadfast

even against the howling, icy-clawed

winds and blowing white blizzards,

even against the rain and sleet

evergreen, ever tall,

ever there.

be like the evergreen trees,

a candle of hope still burning bright

even in the middle of the night,

determined, stalwart, brave,

not extinguishable by wind

nor cold,

nor fear,

nor darkness,

but ever fast, ever tall, evergreen,

still glowing when the other ones

perish in the vicious wind,

still glowing when the other ones

turn away and run.