By Cleo Springfield, TIWP Student My sisterBeautiful, elegant, perfectionMy sisterCharm never faltering My sisterA car going too fastMy sisterNot saved fast enough My sisterScreams engraved in my mindMy sisterAmbulance not quick enough My sisterKind and caringMy sisterJust a lifeless body My griefConsuming and unforgivingMy griefProminent even ten years later

By Leighton Tanaka, TIWP Student blood pours from the bullet, roses bleedon the ground. standunder the ire of the sun, slowly drifting away; eternalrhythms of erasure. listless and lamenting tea-stained wallscompressed between weeping, rising towers. suffocateto replenish the weary, holding the ardor in between shaking,fragile fingers. wind yanksthe dandelion loose. travel far to reach the […]

By Zara Quiter, TIWP Student Cutting through friendship is like cutting through rockNormally the cut is rough and jaggedBut for once, I can just walk away unscathedAnd the rock I cut is as freeing as finding a diamond

By Ava Moga, TIWP Student her hair is straw, glistening and yellow.her eyes are pools of soapy ocean waves.her nose is passed down from those beforeand her body is built on years of nourishment and activity.she has felt a million different feelingsand expressed a million different things. her hands have touched other hands.they’ve touched the ground,water,and […]

By Sarah Hawkins, TIWP Student The soft breeze rattled the trees.As the grass swayed,the water rippled and distorted my reflection as I stared back at myself.The world was quiet.Nothing existed outside of this moment,a perfect moment of serenity away from everything.I reached out toward the water almost to capture it, but as my finger touched […]

By Mira Hubly, TIWP Student I am made of crisp, gentle sunlightthat warms and softens,seeds splittingand young branches twisting and stretching,waves rising and falling,smooth water, fierce sea sprayand salt baking in the sun. I am made of western wind,pushing and pulling,swaying, bopping,spinning,skipping,cracking. I am made of toffeewith sweet caramel,boiled, pulled and stretched,hardened over rich chocolate,breakable yet firm. […]

By Ava Moga, TIWP Student It’s hard to know who I truly am with everyone else’s lives swarming around me,constantly comparing myself to my friends, family, even the random people who I pass in the hallway. It’s hard not to compare,even knowing that at the end of the day we want different things. It’s hard […]

By Audrey Lambert, TIWP Alumni bite me down to the bonei’m starvedcanine’s shark-sharptear into raw fleshi need my mouth to feel fulli need my stomach to feel fulli need to feel full. fill me upextinguish this empty furymake it stop fill me upi need to feel full. there’s a bear in my stomachshe paces in her […]

By Stella Pollock, TIWP Student “You are so beautiful, and so smart, and it kills me that you don’t think you’re good enough.*”She hears a rendition of this line every time she expresses distaste.Distaste for her bloated body.Distaste for her tired brain.Distaste for her textured skin.Never does she hear sympathy.Never does she hear, ‘I understand.’But […]

By Mia Ford, TIWP Student Wishing, craving, all leading back to wanting,wanting to understand the nature of human actions,the action of hiding behind a smile,but the feeling of seeking something more,wanting a life full of beautiful magnolias,a magnolia where each petal makes the nature’s blossom whole. Each step taken, each breath exhaled makes want overpower […]