Young Writers Project is an independent nonprofit that engages students to write, helps them improve and connects them with authentic audiences in newspapers, before live audiences and online. YWP also publishes an annual anthology and The Voice, a digital magazine featuring YWP’s best writing and images. More info: youngwritersproject.org or contact YWP at sreid@youngwritersproject.org or 802-324-9538.

This week, we present responses to the following challenges: Colors.Muse magazine once asked kids to name the colors in an imaginary box of crayons, and instead of the usual colors, they came up with inventive names like Scary Movie Popcorn Yellow and Cat’s Eye Nebula Red. What would you rename an array of colors? And general writing.

Prompt: Colors

Color circus

By Leah Wheeler

Age 15, West Newbury, Vt.

Colors popping,

bursting every second —

like part of a busy circus act

do they jump and play.

Look, there’s Summer Lilac

and Winter Evergreen.

Oh, look at those!

Sandy Beach Beige,

Rainy Day Blue,

Mustang Red,

Bumblebee Yellow,

Witching-Hour Black:

wonderful, wonderful colors.

Prompt: General

A single moment

By Marina Sprague

Age 17, Chelsea

Not a sound can be heard,

as if time has stopped to marvel at this moment.

Hovering above it, I can feel its warmth

ever so gently on the surface of my hand.

Its scent fills the room,

smelling of cool air on a summer night.

A single candle burns on the table,

its light dancing upon every surface.

Nothing

By Cecilia Sweeney

Age 15, Piermont

The universe is ever expanding.

But what is it expanding into?

Nothing, you’ll say,

but even nothing is something.

I wonder if it was peaceful

before the universes’ collision?

Were the stars welcomed as light?

Or did they burn the Nothing as fire?

I’ll keep trying to reach those stars.

If only I could reach a little farther…

Pain vs. hope

By Alaina Jarrett

Age 15, Bradford, Vt.

(Author note: Read first from the beginning to the end, then the end to the beginning.)

Pain will always win out.

How stupid it is to believe

that love is always around.

For it is always guaranteed:

Hate and anger are more powerful,

and I will never be convinced

love can be stronger.

Despite the darkness that seeps into the stars,

everyone stows a secret hope and a secret wish.

But I know the truth,

and it is difficult to cope.

The deepest fears lurk in the coldest shadows.

Some people may think

I can escape;

I can’t.

Giving up is the only choice,

as the waves of life throw me down.

I refuse to believe

there is a hope out there for me.