YWP

By Ruth Knox, 12, Essex Junction, VT

It's everyone's and also mine,
chipping bark and a hanging branch,
amber leaves that drift to the weeded ground,
a forgotten sweatshirt sits at the trunk

By Emma Paris, 14, Putney, VT

One tree
was the tree I leaned upon 
while I had my first kiss 

One tree
knows that secret 
I trust trees more than people 

By Zinnia Hansen, 17, Port Townsend, WA

A tree has blood, thick blood
that fills its cold fractals with slow warmth.

We watch the rain fall.
And tenderly, I brush the water from my eyes.

By Ava Rohrbaugh, 15, Charlotte, VT

I didn't feel 
anything about the
tree
until I lost it, 
til the bark cracked
like glow sticks at dusk
and the cherry blossoms