DECEMBER STUDENTS OF THE MONTH

For Decembers prompt on how you're persona has changed over the decade, our winners are Allie Thomas with a beautiful piece of art and April Li with a talented piece of writing.

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APRIL LI ALLIE THOMAS

Writer of the month Artist of the month

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April’s piece

2010 was the year you climbed the great wall.

you whined and ran and stopped and sweated

(it was probably smoggy but that concept eluded you—

you, eight years old and cocky,

you’d had your first sleepover that year,

your first pair of glasses,

your first orthodontist appointment,

your first build-a-bear birthday party;

you used the red crayola crayon to death,

you thought you knew everything).

months later in the school library,

you sat lugging an atlas heavier than you

and you bragged to a para that you’d climbed the great wall.

“bring me a picture,” was all he said.

spoiler alert: kid, you’re not as cool as you think.

you think, because you know all 50 states and capitals,

because you climbed the great wall,

you hold life in the palm of your hand.

it’s gonna take you many years and grades and birthdays

and sunset drives and capture the flag games

and mcdonald’s after your brother’s evening soccer practices

and messy art projects and pasty glue sticks and construction paper

and chocolate milk cartons and camping trips

and concerts and white tops and black bottoms

and cracked eggs and cracked mugs and cracked lips

and snow boots and snow days and melted marshmallows

and 2 a.m. drives to the airport with the moon chasing you through the window

and ted radio hours on npr humming with the thrum of the car engine

and lake days and barefoot runs through parched grass

and death and cancer and dumb school projects

and sleepovers and glasses and orthodontist appointments

and still, even then, after it all,

cheap striped candles dripping wax onto over-sweetened big y icing

endless wishes spooling out like the wisps of smoke after you blow out the flames

(whose numbers grow)

(your lungs don’t)

for you to realize:

life is not that easy.

i look back at you sometimes

as if i’m some jaded veteran

as if i know things about love and loss

as if i know how it feels for your heart to shatter like

a windowpane struck by a baseball

and i think:

how stupid you are for being so cocky

how foolish you are for thinking life’s that easy

how silly you are for thinking you have time

for grabbing fistfuls of popcorn with both grubby hands

how absolutely

utterly

unequivocally

jealous i am

that you’re so damn happy.

so maybe you are pretty smart after all.

so please then, tell me how.

don’t forget, you still have to give mr. c the picture to prove you climbed the great wall.

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Allie's piece: