Young Writers Project is an independent nonprofit based in Burlington that engages students to write, helps them improve and connects them with authentic audiences in newspapers, before live audiences and on websites, youngwritersproject.org, vtdigger.org, vpr.net, medium.com and more. Young Writers Project also publishes a digital magazine, The Voice, and an anthology of its best writing and photography. YWP is supported by this newspaper and foundations, businesses and individuals who recognize the power and value of writing.
This week’s prompt: Photo2, Friends. Write about this photographs of two autumn leaves by Tapan Napal.
Lousy Leaves
Heat and sun,
leaves green and having fun.
Cold and spooky,
one leaf broody,
the other marvelous and colorful,
thinking it’s wonderful.
The friendship dies,
rising in the skies.
Endless
So similar yet so different,
two leaves from the same tree.
This description applies to my sister and me,
two leaves from the same tree, but unique.
Me: Vibrant and colorful,
Her: Crumpled and wrinkled.
We combine as one grand loss,
a sign of beauty
similar to Vermont foliage –
a view for outsiders,
but a great loss for the trees.
We are trapped in an endless cycle,
continuing to fall yearly despite all efforts to hold on.
While it is easy to stand by and admire this cycle,
we live it.
Hanging on by a single stem,
hoping this year will be different,
we rely heavily on one another,
almost out of habit.
The sturdy branch that held us up
will surely collapse.
The leaves will continue to fall,
as will we.
Two Views
We are the same but different,
equal but not equal,
new and old,
fresh and stale.
I am a leaf, freshly fallen off a tree.
I fall next to an old leaf who is alive, yet dying,
who is old and stale, crunchy and fragile.
A new leaf falls, gliding down away from me.
A gust of wind catches the leaf and drags it next to me.
I see it now clear and fresh.
It is a vibrant red with veins of orange.
We are the same but different,
equal but not equal.
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