SAL/ON

A Blog of Seattle Arts & Lectures

Category: Student Writing

“The Two Americas” by WITS Student Thewdros Shibeshi

For anyone who has been paying attention, There are indeed two Americas: There’s an America that’s a world of white racial resentment Where the Confederate flag proudly flies, Where monuments to traitors are to be revered, Where protesting racial injustice is an intolerable act of aggression, Where the words “Black Lives Matter” are considered words […]

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“Self-Portrait Poem” by WITS Student Miyabi Schorn

i have a body small and impatient, and feet that can jump, arms that can climb, fingers that can type, a head that can nod, my brown eyes that can see, and a great big imagination. Miyabi Schorn wrote this poem while a student at Lafayette Elementary School with WITS Writer-in-Residence Karen Finneyfrock. Miyabi read […]

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Introducing the Winners of the 2022 Elaine Wetterauer Writing Contest

Our utmost congratulations to the 2022 Elaine Wetterauer Writing Contest winners and runners-up! Every year, Seattle Arts & Lectures’ Writers in the Schools (WITS) program holds the Elaine Wetterauer Writing Contest, named for beloved English teacher Elaine Wetterauer, who taught for years at Nathan Hale High School and was an early champion of WITS, as […]

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“Lived. Moved. Wanted. Got?” by Zora Sowinska

“Here” feels so lonely. The hands of a ghost who loved another ghost, the space between fingertips, the hall light under the door. Whispers that evaporate into thin air like an August creek. Ferns line the sidewalks and the trails, spores frequenting their undersides. In kindergarten, someone told me that those spores heal cuts, but […]

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“Odes to my birth” by WITS Student Quynh Nguyen

Three… two… one… just one more second, only one more for a present. Ever wonder about life and death? Love and birth; all rise up toward a newborn. A tear slightly drops down from sky: the sky of all lovings; universes, stars, galaxy, space and shadow of emotions. If I were a tiny piece of […]

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The Scribbles, the Rubbish, and the Mirrored Words

This essay is part of a series in which Seattle Arts & Lectures partners with Poetry Northwest to present reflections on visiting writers from SAL’s 2021/22 Season. On Thursday, April 7, Don Mee Choi will read and discuss her work with Stefania Heim at Hugo House, and the event will also be streamed live. Tickets are […]

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“War Zone” by Avni Rao

And as dusk neared, The laughs were replaced with nonchalance, For it was dark and unsafe now One mustn’t do something to provoke— An ill-fated destiny corsets hung from old, battered joints An urge to for slim, slender, small, shrunken Gasping, choking, fighting They were struck by the intonation Of its missed, beautiful dictation of […]

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“Peace” by WITS Student Gwyneth Febus

Peace and I met at 2 in the morning with my head hanging out the window to catch snow on my tongue He was so cold and refreshing and new He breathed out white clouds And the light of the moon reflecting on his skin So I vowed to make him my friend Peace and […]

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Unmastering English: On the Work of Cathy Park Hong

This essay is part of a series in which Seattle Arts & Lectures partners with Poetry Northwest to present reflections on visiting writers from SAL’s 2021/22 Season. On Friday, January 28, Cathy Park Hong will be in conversation with Ijeoma Oluo at Langston Performing Arts Institute, and the event will also be streamed live. Although […]

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