Hello everyone!

Welcome to our PoArtMo Anthology (Youth Edition) Series, which celebrates the talented young creatives featured in The Auroras & Blossoms PoArtMo Anthology: Youth Edition (Volume 2).

Today, Abigail Kim and Tatum Zola are telling us what inspired the pieces they sent us.

Abigail Kim

Abigail Kim (U.S.) enjoys gymnastics and sewing, and would like to become a teacher. Her role model is Simone Biles.

Abigail sent us the story titled See You Next Saturday!:

“See You Next Saturday!” is inspired by my experience of how I reacted to meeting autistic students as a young kid. As I started to write, I felt surrounded by shame and guilt about how I had initially looked down on the students, treating them like they were “different”. I had never interacted with autistic students so I didn’t know how to be flexible and respectful around them.

I thought that sharing my story would help prevent others from making the same mistakes and judgments as I did. I hoped that the reader would understand and be aware that these students weren’t any different from the rest of us. Maybe they communicate in unique ways and act uncommonly, but they are still human like all of us!

Through this story, I tried to demonstrate that these students and I were able to sing, laugh, and enjoy music like any other human. I hoped for the reader to be inspired to free themselves from the lenses of judgment, and instead start seeking the great qualities that people have. I know that in this story, it was difficult for me to throw away these lenses of judgment. However, it wasn’t too challenging to find the wonderful qualities in these students when a student yelled to me, “See you next Saturday!”

Tatum Zola

Tatum Zola (Eugene, U.S.) enjoys writing, drawing, and creating, and would like to become a writer. “My role model is Khaled Hosseini. Reading his books The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns moved me and made me begin to wonder if I could create art like that.”

Tatum sent us the poem titled Morse Code:

“Morse code”, in a nutshell, is a representation of a teenage girl; her thoughts, feelings, and how the world perceives her. Oftentimes, people struggle with feeling reserved and quiet, particularly in group settings. Refraining from speaking up can be an adaptive way to avoid the risks of embarrassment, rejection or ostracism, even if it comes at the cost of someone’s own self expression. This poem was meant to connect the experience of social anxiety to the literal concept of Morse code; a language that, like the inner experience of worry, is often silent. Each stanza is broken up by the line ‘dot’ or ‘dash’, and when connected these letters spell out ‘silent’.

Learning to cope with social anxiety is a struggle for many adolescents. I’ve found that creating works of literature to express my own worries has helped me come to terms with the daily occurrences I once feared. Because of this, I ended my poem on a hopeful note, with a recognizable journey from a place of self-deprecation, to self-acceptance. While the road is long, and gaining back the confidence that can accompany pre-adolescent childhood innocence is no easy feat, this poem serves as a call to take the first step.

Abigail and Tatum, thank you for sharing what inspired your pieces. We know that people will love your work as much as we do!

The Auroras & Blossoms PoArtMo Anthology: Youth Edition (Volume 2) will be released on March 23, 2023. In the meantime, you can pre-order your copy for 50% off the regular price. Offer ends on March 23, 2023.

Cendrine & David

Please note that Auroras & Blossoms only releases digital copies (ebooks) of its anthologies. This allows us to keep our costs and book prices low, and avoid charging young participants for submitting to us.