The Table of Art

By Genet Dutto, TIWP Student The wooden table,filled with cracks of spilled memories,the marks and scratchesof play-fights and mayhem,the distorted goops of glue which we trace,the mistakes we turn into art,the lovable drawings,figures we createto fill up the imagination,the table of artthat holds the truthof what we seek in life.

Surrender

By Aly Kirke, TIWP Student Sometimes it’s okay to give up. When you keep trying over and over, breaking yourself more and more with each try, it’s okay to stop. What matters is that you tried. You don’t have to kill yourself trying to get there. I wish people taught their kids that.

First Contact

By Maya Petzoldt, TIWP Student February 23rd, 2022, 10:36 pm. I can’t sleep, I just can’t. I can roll over in my bed as many times as I want, I won’t fall asleep. I try going to the bathroom, I try getting water. Hell, I even try getting up and running around to see if […]

Never Enough

By Emma Stokes, TIWP Student She tries. She does. I promise she does. Maybe she tries too hard. Maybe she compares herself to the portraits of those beautiful women in France. She compares her brain to those of the great scientists, writers, and observers of history. She could live up to those expectations. One day […]

I Never Knew

By Mina Talebi, TIWP Student Watching the world on repeatFrom my chipping, white windowsillCouldn’t pull the fluttering curtains shut.Couldn’t change the channel.Because I couldn’t even stand. The colors outside were so blindingly blandThat I couldn’t even look at them anymoreThe bed was too hard.The room was too hot.The time held too still.The bus went too […]

My Economy

By Emma Stokes, TIWP Student I hate inflationNot economicallyBut the inflation that happens when you start to raise your standards and realize I’m not as amazing as you thoughtThe inflation where you move on and the value of our love goes up but makes it less meaningfulOne day it will happenI’m not preparedMy economy will […]

Love Me

By Mina Talebi, TIWP Student Ivy climbing into the holes in my heart,Clenching harder and harder,Till we all fall apart. Air balloons will drift me awayFrom this world in black and white,I wish it was grey. Kindergarten lanternsNo real fire,Let go of what you believeFly higher, higher, higher We’ll test our limitsUntil we crack,You can’t […]

Goldilocks

By Reagan Kaelle, TIWP Student Sometimes I feel like I’m trapped in the story of Goldilocks. All teenage girls are. We are “too hard” or “too soft.” “Too hot” or “too cold.” Never just right. Our walk through life is a winding one. Girls balance on the blade of a knife or the column of […]

Resilience

By Sarah Hawkins, TIWP Student “I am not perfect. I am the perfect me.” —Samantha Ruth Prabhu I am not perfect.I mess up.I learn.I am sensitive.I am honest.I regret.I’ll do it differently next time.I feel stressed.I take a break.I cry.I let myself feel.I am the perfect me.

Writing On Walls

By Katerina Bonderud, TIWP Student When I was young, I used to write on my walls. Just out of sight from anyone who would stumble in or out of my room. It was a secret I kept behind the door of my life—along with many other secrets that I hide in random places in the […]