Steve Smith, tied in a chair with his hands bound, faced two harsh judges. He must answer for his crimes.

These three poems are born through observing simple things that aren't often noticed, searching for a sense of serenity and beauty in ordinary life.

The two poems that I wrote for the CYA are interpretations of personal experiences in my life both surrounding my mother.

I've always wanted to live in a magical world, yet I must remind myself that trouble would follow me there.

The poem I wrote called ‘reset’ reflects on the pain and addiction that follows self-harm, and how difficult it can be to get through. It’s one of the most vulnerable pieces I’ve written.

“S'est levé dans le noir,” which means “rose in the dark” in French, is an idea I had for a continuation of an exquisite corpse piece.

Every year begins and ends with winter. I wrote this poem in the perspective of a personified year in order to express the notion that the same thing may be viewed from two opposite standpoints.

Haunted Dolls is about a young girl who notices something off with her toys and her mom won't help her.

Get Out is a poem about family relationships and the side that no one really sees. We hide a large part of our relationships from the public, and this poem is about the hidden parts that can be really difficult to talk about.

This piece is a somber piece about self-preservation, with the added flair of eldritch horror.

A bisexual love story between two cowboys.

I have written two poems for this submission, to be frank, I am not a poet, not by any standard, but I did like writing these two poems, and I think they are pretty good, I wrote both of these in times of great pain in my life.

I wrote this piece to describe what might go on in someone's head when they are contacting the devil. I did hours of research trying to get the references and religious allegories right, and I am very proud of how it turned out in the end.

When I wrote this piece, I felt like my control over my body and my actions was being surrendered to a force through no choice of my own, and I wanted to describe that emotion in a fantastical way to help me work through my feelings.

My poem expresses how I feel as an artist who is able to share how they feel and connect with others through writing.

My first poem I wrote for a school project in which we were given specific words to write a poem with. It was really fun to put together my different words, and I ended up writing "Tea Party," which criticizes aspects of materialism.

I wrote this piece when I was angry about a person in my life. I struggle to let them go even though I know they will hurt me in the long run. The main character's anger is my anger and when she lets go it's my hopes for the future.

My art is usually written down in the spur of the moment, random ideas just pop in my head and I'll rush them so they don't disappear.

This writing is an excerpt from a story idea I created.

When a Boy Loves a Woman is a fun and comedic story about a troublesome elementary school kid being in love with his child-hating high school babysitter. I wrote this piece with one of my classmates for a screenwriting competition in my creative writing class.