Artwork by Nicole Carey, age 17
Telephoning dad,
Mum’s almost home
Making Jessie mad
Dreaming of Rome
On the long, windy road
Ignorance was strength
The sound of crickets,
A warm, secret kiss
Cheeks, never lips
Running from the wind
Adults with their scripts
Smarter than the rest
Dumber than the lot
Never feeling stressed
Every day was hot
Every dinner, special
Every memory, fragile
Falling, falling again and again
But it’s not until you fall
— that you fly.
Sis, older, thinner now
She fights to make it true
Reveries, I visualise
Remember one or two
Should you yearn of bigger skies one day
Remember when you fell
— and flew.
Vincent Chang is a Year 10 student from Australia. When he isn’t preparing for a debate or rehearsing at choir, you can find him reading and writing about literature and the arts, history and linguistics, theater and poetry. He is especially interested in narrative: because a story isn’t about “what happens,” but about how what happens transforms the characters.
Nicole Carey is a 17-year-old artist from California.
