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      September 8, 2018Dear Holden,Julia Spande

      We like to take our time
      and Time likes
      to take its toll—
      let’s retreat into the duck pond
      and listen to Little Shirley Beans
      before our ears are tuned to the drone
      of those Ivy Leagues.
      I want to unravel the world
      (that hand-me-down sweater)
      and let thread cartwheel around our tongues
      before we
      chew the fat
      with mechanical jaws.
      I can’t deny I’m scared for us—
      I can hear our footsteps,
      our dragging heels
      walking towards
      the grey-footed precipice in the golden rye.
      One day (maybe soon)
      we’ll fall like grains of sand
      in an hourglass
      or turtle-necked boys out a window
      and no soft hands
      will pluck us from the edge.
      We built skyscrapers out of checkers
      and homes in the Neolithic past—
      our feet melted
      during the fox trot,
      stung as they pounded the streets.
      We aren’t stagnant,
      legends cast in ageless, audacious
      bronze or marble;
      we aren’t even porcelain horses
      on a merry-go-round.
      Let’s save immortality for that phony Zeus.
      You can put on
      your red hunting cap
      and I’ll crawl into the folds of your life
      and maybe
      we’ll stop the fall from hurting so bad.

      from 2018 RYPA

      Julia Spande (age 14)

      Why do you like to write poetry?

      “Growing up, I was cripplingly shy. I only talked to my parents, my (very) small circle of friends, and my teachers if necessary. I was bursting with ideas, interesting tidbits, and pure passion, but I shoved my words down my throat until they faded into irrelevance. Poetry was the only way I knew how to speak. I channeled every thought and passing whim into metaphors, every question I wanted to ask into its own stanza. Poetry was my way of interacting with the world I was scared to participate in. Although my reticence was only a childhood phase, I still use poetry to interpret and communicate with my surroundings. With every poem I write, I feel my world come into sharper focus.”

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