By Zara Quiter, TIWP Student Toxic masculinity is like any addiction.Poisonous and sweet,Aggressive and gentle.It is that same drug that offers me a jacket when he sees I am cold,who throws away my garbage and asks for my number.Who texts me that night and says, “I’m glad.”Do I smile at him, do I text him back, do […]

By Katelyn H., TIWP Student At 12 a.m. the memories replay like songs I don’t want to end, the worries crowding my mind, and the quiet truth that this year is slipping away. It’s strange how people who filled my days with laughter might slowly turn into old pictures, faded messages, and stories I tell […]

By Emily Y., TIWP Student The clock is ticking, the pace is quickening. The kids are scraping tooth and nailto be unique.What if we could have knownwhat to do since childhood,like the instructions of a Lego set,putting our lives together,piece by piece,while knowing the end resultwould make a home? Comparison grips the studentswhen grades quietly define your […]

By Kristin H., TIWP Student Remember meTo writeTo fightTo be or not to beA poetA knightA fighterA leaderA shining lightA disappointment.A failure.Alone.The individual.You’re alone, but you’re not aloneYou’re not by yourself.Who are you without anotherIf the tree falls with no one to listen?Will I be remembered?Have I done enough?Will you remember me,When my roots are […]

By Zara Quiter, TIWP Student

By Zara Q., TIWP Student

By Avery C., TIWP Student Inside,possibility grows wilda forest of unfinished sentences,constellations still decidingwhat shape they want to be. But the world prefers straight roads,clear signs,names hammered into doors. So walk the border between wilderness and pavementwith a notebook full of dissolved stars. Some morningsthoughts arrive like migrating birdsfast, bright, and impossible to hold. Other […]

By Zara Quiter, TIWP Student I’m happyI tell myself as I walk down the stairs.I am happy.I am grateful.I am enough.Ignore the fists pounding that you aren’t,ignore the shrill screams that you’re worthless,ignore it all and listen to the sounds of your own heartbeat.I can’t get the song of this insanity out of my head […]

By Kristen H., TIWP Student I was taughtto shrink my voice,into something polite.To fold my anger like a noteand slide it under the doorinstead of speaking it out loud. I learned earlythat speaking up was “too much.”Don’t want too loudly.Don’t reach too far.Softness was strengthbut only when it stayed useful. They handed us a rulebookwithout […]

By Zara Quiter, TIWP Student Boys liked P.E.,and so we were supposed to hate it.Boys religiously played video games,and so we were supposed to get destroyed by them.Boys messed around in class,and so we were supposed to sit still and listen.We learned. I feel sorry for boys like that,and in vain, I hope they feel […]