Young Writers Project is a creative, online community of teen writers and visual artists that started in Burlington in 2006. Each week, VTDigger publishes the writing and art of young Vermonters who post their work on youngwritersproject.org, a free, interactive website for youth, ages 13-19. To find out more, please go to youngwritersproject.org or contact Executive Director Susan Reid at sreid@youngwritersproject.org; (802) 324-9538.
Ahh, the simple joys of summer: the ice cream truck’s jingle ringing through the neighborhood, that sizzling burger on the backyard grill, a ripe strawberry plucked straight from the runner. When the sun is beaming down hot, there’s nothing better. This week’s featured poet, Sela Morgenstein Fuerst of South Burlington, relishes the very juice running down her chin, savoring the taste and experience that is eating a fresh berry on a warm, sunny day.
Went strawberry-picking today
Sela Morgenstein Fuerst, 11, South Burlington
Summer means
a sun-kissed, still-warm
strawberry, red –
not lip gloss, but staining my everything
as I eat it slower than snails, slower than I should,
while lounging on a rock,
river mermaid come to life,
sunscreen fading into my skin, into
the air,
pondering life in a buttery sunbeam…
eating a strawberry
that’s dripping down my white shirtsleeves,
and reveling in summer.