Wiregrass Writing Project, in partnership with the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, is pleased to present Maya Young with the Silver Key for Poetry in the 2021 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards

 

Her poem is entitled "Girl", and she was nominated by Mrs. Roig-McKnight.  

 

 

“Girl”

I plummeted

I am a girl who thrives on routine

I detest expanses of space that seem to stretch 

To eternity: 

new journals

open calendars

the slow roll of endless road

Because they imply a certain need 

to sit with oneself,

they are terrifying. 

A more intimate vulnerability emerges

in the private communion with self, 

to invite the accumulation of thoughts and ideas 

that hurt 

and shame 

and indict

And so, I sat with myself in April 

and in May, 

in between pounding out essays 

and penciling equations 

with a dignified precision 

to avoid the former. 

Any singular grit within me was steadily siphoned away 

with each X feebly crossed in a calendar box.

June and July 

were marked by the routine collection of sorrows

to place carefully within the folds of my heart 

where they would sit reverently 

I built a tiny chapel in my soul for them to rest, 

though they still sting around their edges 

to hide the soft hurt in their center

I vow to feed these inhabitants with something 

resembling 

joy 

 

 

Maya's work was reviewed and recognized by a panel of creative professionals, and awarded for its outstanding merit in

originality, technical skill, and the emergence of your personal voice and vision.

 

Since 1923, the Awards have recognized some of America’s most celebrated artists and writers while they were teenagers,

including: Tschabalala Self, Stephen King, Kay WalkingStick, Charles White, Joyce Carol Oates, and Andy Warhol.  The Awards are

proud to count Maya among these esteemed Scholastic Awards alumni!