See Beyond

By The Telling Room

The Telling Room’s latest anthology pays tribute to those who sacrifice for others every day, in big and small ways. For the essential workers—healthcare workers, EMTs, construction crews, grocery store clerks, delivery drivers. And for the teachers, parents, and volunteers. The authors in this “Best of 2020” literary anthology courageously share some of their innermost thoughts and feelings with us, whether the relief of moving and beginning a better life, or the common struggle of not knowing what to write and suddenly being struck by an idea.

See Beyond’s stories and poems represent the peaks and valleys, the light and the dark, and the past and the future. Family members recovering from addiction. A teen’s worry for our worsening climate. A mother’s library-like mind. Readers are able to step into the shoes of a young woman determined to use her voice for good and into the lens of a compassionate flashlight. Taken together, the collection focuses in on new ways of seeing, giving its readers strong 20/20 vision through the lenses of today’s young people.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Telling Room
• Release date: Jun 9, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463754160

The Telling Room

At the Telling Room, we empower youth through writing and share their voices with the world. Focused on young writers ages 6 to 18, we seek to build confidence, strengthen literacy skills, and provide real audiences for our students. We believe that the power of creative expression can change our communities and prepare our youth for future success.Our fun, innovative programs enlist the support of local writers, artists, teachers, and community groups. At our downtown writing center we offer free after-school workshops and writing help, and host field trips for school groups from all over Maine. We also lead workshops at local schools and community organizations; bring acclaimed writers to Maine to give public readings and work with small groups of students; publish bestselling anthologies of student work; and carry out community-wide writing projects and events.

Book preview

SEE BEYOND

Copyright page

Managing Editors: Clare LaVergne and Molly McGrath

Associate Editors: Maryam Abdullah, Skye Ferris, Raisa Hamlin, Annah Houanche, Aurelie Kaleka, and Lily Oldershaw

Copyright 2020 The Telling Room

Smashwords Edition

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Thank you for respecting the hard work of our authors.

Introduction

The year 2020 has already proven to be wildly unpredictable. As this book goes to print, we are still in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. It is uncanny that the theme we chose for our writing this past year was 20/20, given how the year has unfolded. When we chose this theme, it wasn’t even cold and flu season yet in Maine, and we expected stories about Maine’s 200th anniversary of statehood (we got a few), or what it would mean to be part of a new decade (we got tons), or what we see clearly in hindsight or with 20/20 vision (we got most).

The authors in this literary anthology courageously share some of their innermost thoughts and feelings with us, whether the relief of moving and beginning a better life, or the common struggle of not knowing what to write and suddenly being struck by an idea. The stories and poems in See Beyond represent the peaks and valleys, the light and the dark, and the past and the future, and all focus in on specific scenarios that offer a new way of seeing, or a clearer 20/20 vision. Family members recovering from addiction. A teen’s worry for our worsening climate. A mother’s library-like mind. Readers are able to step into the shoes of a young woman determined to use her voice for good and into the lens of a compassionate flashlight.

Today’s developments are making us all realize the value in human connections, which we are seeing is inspiring new writing and providing supportive communities in which to share it. The current situation with COVID-19 has meant huge adjustments for us all, and the experience is likely to continue to inspire more remarkable writing, now and hundreds of years from now, as subsequent generations look back to us to see how we lived. Before the pandemic, way back in 2019 when they were still typing up their drafts, many of this book’s authors chose to show how their lives changed in their writing, and reflected on challenges they had to overcome.

Though COVID-19 affected the publishing process this year, as editors were unable to meet with authors in person, the connection we feel with the authors through reading their thoughtful pieces persists. Writing has the remarkable ability of bringing people together, and each story and poem here provides a way to connect through shared hopes and dreams, as well as through fear and personal struggle. We hope these stories and poems provide you with the inspiration you need to see beyond 2020, while offering a refuge from the uncertainty and change that may yet be occurring worldwide.

The Telling Room Publishing Workshop

June 2020

For those who sacrifice for others every day, in big and small ways. For the essential workers—healthcare workers, EMTs, construction crews, grocery store clerks, delivery drivers. And for the teachers, parents, and volunteers.

Table of Contents

1.The World Wakes Sarah Gray

2.Give Up Maya Faulstich

3.Staring Blankly Elyse D’Auteuil

4.All I Can See Si Ting Chen

5.Glass with a Midlife Crisis Emma Dawson-Webb

6.Not at All Uncommon Pyam Morin

7.Not Your Scholar Lina Awad

8.My First Voice Laurel E. Sojourner

9.Up in Flames Makayla Summerson

10.Behind Your Eyes Alexa Barstow

11.See Beyond Hazel Goodwin

12.Drive Until You Lose the Road Aurelie Kaleka

13.Sail-Away Stories Hazel Dow

14.Girl with the Wonder Eyes Ainsley Morrison

15.When You Are Blinded, You Are Easy to Fool Devin Gifford

16.Illuminate Fiona Akilo Stawarz

17.Now I Know Kiely Burns

18.An Entire Family Desensitized Skye Ferris

19.Solving the Ever-Changing Problems Nina Powers

20.Truly Seen Ashley McBreairty

21.An Unorthodox Field Guide to Flagstaff Lake Hut Marlow Saucier

22.Somehow, I Knew What to Do Lily Griffin

23.Green Christmas Lily Oldershaw

24.Hazel Eyes Zoe Larson

25.I Only Step into Churches for Funerals Firdaws Hakizimana

26.Jayden Cho Sargent; My Dearest Regrets Caleb O’Brien

27.Back When Logan Wilbur

Acknowledgments

The World Wakes

Sarah Gray

It is another day of this and that, another day of living.

I wake to the alarm, flush with reasonless anger,

I wake to the clarion call of its rage.

the sun wakes us all in an instant like the mother

of the most petulant offspring.

We are the people living in the world; we are problem children.

We tug at her sleeve and ask her not to smoke us out,

but the cigarette is already lit,

and with each persistent whimper she gets closer

to snubbing it on our noses.

Greta Thunberg collects buckets of water and pleads with us,

people of the world,

to join the firemen’s battalion.

That only we can save ourselves.

We, petulant children of planet Earth, refuse.

I wake to another day of living,

and who does not give thanks for being alive?

But some days I do not feel so grateful.

Some days the humor of Generation Z seeps under my skin

and I say I long for death.

I think what I long for is clarity in this unsteady world.

I think I long for a break from it all.

I wake to the scent of my perfume,

my eyelashes heavy, laden with mascara.

I wake to them frozen shut,

to the way I squint in the light before I put on my glasses.

At this time of day the windows have nothing to reveal,

and I am cold

and as bleak as the world wishes me.

But I will rise,

despite the darkness of these days.

I will rise to another day of school,

another day of the people in the world.

I will find my glasses in the dark and look ahead clearly.

After all, who does not give thanks for being alive?

SARAH GRAY is an eighth grader