2016 January – Blue – Inaugural Issue

Contents:

Goody Goody – Vanessa Choo (age 04; Singapore)

The Second Full Moon Is Blue – Ella Stephens (age 13; Christchurch, New Zealand)

The Auhora – Hugh Ryan (age 09; Christchurch, New Zealand)

Dreaming Cat – Sofia Verina (age 10; North Carolina, United States)

The Hunters – Finn Pearce (age 08; Christchurch, New Zealand)

where the ice met the sea – Lucy Jessep (age 12; Christchurch, New Zealand)

Buxton Apothecary – Eleanor Bennett (age 19; Manchester, England)

Offscreen – Ryan Tuzyk (age 25; Toronto, Canada)

Arm Doodles – Samantha Jory-Smart (age 14; New Zealand)

Blue Tiger – Cameron Doherty (age 11; Auckland, New Zealand)

Space – Lachlan Merriman (age 08; Auckland, New Zealand)

Ocean Eyes – Imogen Twiss (age 14; Christchurch, New Zealand)

Blue Fish – Alanah Peters (age 07; Bluff City, Tennessee, United States)

Blue Duck – Joshua Dillon (age 14; Christchurch, New Zealand)

Autumn – Gray Hackett (age 07; Larchmont, New York, United States)

Seated Drive – Eleanor Bennett (age 19; Manchester, England)

Hungry – Judith Jewell (age 15; Christchurch, New Zealand)

Brothers – Ralph Clink (age 15; Christchurch, New Zealand)

The Flurry of Bonfire Night – Eleanor Bennett (age 19; Manchester, England)

Blue Butterfly – Bryson Chen (age 15; Christchurch, New Zealand)

I Start at Blue – Georgina Scott (age 12; Christchurch, New Zealand)

[Untitled] – Zelle Logan (age 12; Christchurch, New Zealand)

Penguins – Jeannie Hird (age 09; Wanganui, New Zealand)

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Goody Goody – Vanessa Choo

Vanessa Choo is four years old. She lives in Singapore.

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The Second Full Moon Is Blue – Ella Stephens

the boy
and the lamb

hidden behind
the blue tarpaulin

a world that is their own

the sea
reflects
the sky
grasps
the second full moon

a ladder leans against
the blue cottage

a china tea set is blue
untouched
the kettle whistles

they hide
out of reach of truth
behind reality

they live in
a world that is their own
nothing
but a blue tarpaulin

Ella Stephens is thirteen years old. She lives in Christchurch, New Zealand.

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The Auhora – Hugh Ryan

The Auhora
Slowly crosses the horizon a minute before dawn
As cars get driven and chainsaws get used
The CO2 makes the boat rise
On the melting ice
Of the Arctic
Up and up
It goes until the world is flooded
And all that is left is the boat

Hugh Ryan is nine years old. He lives in Christchurch, New Zealand.

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Dreaming Cat – Sofia Verina

Sofia Verina is ten years old. She lives in North Carolina, United States.

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The Hunters – Finn Pearce

A seagull sloping
down towards the waves
Froth parting the arrow
in the wing

Finn Pearce is eight years old. He lives in Christchurch, New Zealand.

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where the ice met the sea – Lucy Jessep

between the frost
and the sea
a figure stood

half crystallised frost,
formed from a single breath
on a moonlit day

half wild sea foam,
shaped from murky depths
dark and distant

she would climb onto a sleigh
pulled by deep blue horses

and ride towards the moon.

she wondered what
the sea would look
like if it froze

sheets of ice
stretched tightly
over the ocean
like a glass cover,

the ocean whipping it,
forming spider-web cracks
in a frozen wasteland

Lucy Jessep is twelve years old. She lives in Christchurch, New Zealand.

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Buxton Apothecary – Eleanor Bennett

Eleanor Bennett is nineteen years old. She lives in Manchester, England.

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Offscreen – Ryan Tuzyk

I’m the chief scientist on an exploration class starship, and I’m also a robot. Or at least I’m pretending to be.

Robots speak in a steady, measured cadence, because there are no emotions to distract them. I keep my voice neutral as I impart life-saving information to the crew.

“Captain,” I say, “Quorium readings are dangerously high.”

The director yells cut.

When I get home there’s a note on the door. I’m going to live with my sister, it says. The children are coming with me.

I go inside and open the newspaper, because I haven’t read it yet.

Ryan Tuzyk is twenty-five years old. He lives in Toronto, Canada.

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Arm Doodles – Samantha Jory-Smart

Blue pen-ink
blots my skin
and spreads till it
entwines my veins

swirls adorn the moon
and seep into my arm
in wobbly blotches
of midnight

twenty stars tingle
on each of my
fingers and toes

an owl hoots
from my other wrist

I collect
memories of the night too,
you know.

Samantha Jory-Smart is fourteen years old. She lives in New Zealand.

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Blue Tiger – Cameron Doherty

Cameron Doherty is eleven years old. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand.

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Space – Lachlan Merriman

I’m floating in an infinite world
High over the earth so beautiful and blue
I can see the stars and they look like glitter spread over the sky
I’m in a sea of tranquillity.

Lachlan Merriman is eight years old. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand.

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Ocean Eyes – Imogen Twiss

I see them
I don’t hear.
Muffled voices collecting in a haze
their timbre is dead, monotonous
a dull globe of noise, thudding
Indistinguishable sound pollution
I am in the center
but no one acknowledges me
my life goes on, long walks in the park
I see no colour
except
blue.
I see sadness, I see being alone.
But it is only me in my loneliness
The blue is others’ happiness through a filter
that is my eyes
They are normal, I am the odd one out
I look in the mirror
And I see blue
My blood runs cold, always
There is a sinking sphere
Lead in my chest
It pulls me down, so that everyone else
Is above me
Superior
They laugh, but not at me
They are looking elsewhere, happy
They do not notice my pain
They do not notice me
Their lives are fulfilled
I am invisible
I am the one who sees blue
Blue is all I see
Everything is blue
I’m drowning
I’m seeing my whole life before my eyes
My life has always been blue
I was born and put in baby blue
When I wanted pink
When they laughed, at me, this time
I saw everything through ocean eyes
Cried cerulean tears
Now
I’m falling down, the bridge called to me
I watch the shimmering surface of the waves, undulating
The lead where my heart is, pulling me under
Drifting to meet the sea floor
A cold bed
But I’m not seeing blue anymore
I see purple
Now red
My blood is being drawn from my lungs before me
And now I see black

Imogen Twiss is fourteen years old. She lives in Christchurch, New Zealand.

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Blue Fish – Alanah Peters

Alanah Peters is seven years old, and created this artwork at the age of six. She lives in Bluff City, Tennessee, United States.

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Blue Duck – Joshua Dillon

She swooped down onto the crescent shaped rock, her brown, wrinkled, webbed feet planting on the granite, made smooth by decades of swift currents. She lowered her head delicately, and came back up with a beak full of crystal clear water, leaving behind a pulsating ripple. She straightened her neck, droplets falling from the end of her beak, and shook her feathers. This was her favourite spot, far enough away to not be disturbed by her brothers, let alone those tall creatures with big shiny machines, always making noise.

She was majestic, candy for the eye, nature’s finest. Her feathers were of a glorious array of blue and green that stood out perfectly against the background. Her soft furry underbelly was snow white, peppered with dots of cherry. Her feet were so intricately designed, with seemingly hundreds of layers and textures. She rubbed the top of her head on her underbelly, trying to sooth the irritated skin around her deep scar. It was engrained in her memory.

After cleaning herself, she took off in search of her brothers. Surely they had found a tasty morsel to gobble, or else she would go starving. Her wings flapped in a monotonous beat as she soared through the air, with a bird’s eye view of the snaking, blue and white river, cutting through the land. Then she saw it. Something out of the corner of the eye, out of focus, but there. She turned her head as she saw the tall creatures, holding long shafts, looking up at the sky. She turned her gaze back to the river, confused. The next moment, she heard a loud BANG and her feathers parted, as the hot sharp object tore through her skin and pierced her heart. She dropped like a stone, and splashed hard down into the water.

The blue duck sank to the river floor, one of the last of its kind, taken for granted. A waste. The charm of her blue enigma was lost for good. The hypocrisy of mankind.

Joshua Dillon is fourteen years old. He lives in Christchurch, New Zealand.

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Autumn – Gray Hackett

Fall leaves are many colors
Flying from the trees
Flags waving in the wind—slow

Gray Hackett is seven years old. He lives in Larchmont, New York, United States.

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Seated Drive – Eleanor Bennett

Eleanor Bennet is nineteen years old. She lives in Manchester, England.

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Hungry – Judith Jewell

I look down at my beef. Cold. Blue. I look up at my daddy. Cold. Blue. His coldness is driven by an eternal storm of violence, but no one else sees it. Coldness of the beef is driven by a lazy cook. I wonder if the cook has a storm as well, and pray he doesn’t. It’s a shame my few spots of sunshine can barely hold up the rain my daddy hails down on me. Cold. Blue. It’s a shame my bruises always show up blue against my pale skin, so I yet again come up with excuses as to why my pale flesh is constantly interrupted by fields of damaged nerves that insist on sharing my secret. Daddy’s little secret, he says while tapping the side of his nose, the same nose that constantly drips little bundles of snot. Cold. Blue.

I look down at my beef, and begin to eat. I tear apart the blueness, tear apart the storm with my sunshine. I laugh with confidence in my voice.

My beef is gone, and I like it that way.

Judith Jewell is fifteen years old. She lives in Christchurch, New Zealand.

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Brothers – Ralph Clink

The coffins fall from the clouded sky
Jump, or burn, jump or burn!
Pale arms, reaching for the surface
Legs still, hearts still

The coffins fall from the other side
No longer stars and stripes
Jump, or burn, jump or burn!
Tanned arms, reaching for the surface
Legs still, hearts still

No longer enemies
Yet not allies
But brothers
Brothers of the sea

Blue cares not for colour
For it encompasses all

Ralph Clink is fifteen years old. He lives in Christchurch, New Zealand.

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The Flurry of Bonfire Night – Eleanor Bennett

Eleanor Bennet is nineteen years old. She lives in England.

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Blue Butterfly – Bryson Chen

The butterfly flapped its wings,
Sending shockwaves through the air.
She exhaled,
Her blue breath clouding the sky,
Swirling like an icy dragon.
The dragon cried,
Shaking the air with its new-found powers.

Another flap of the butterfly’s wings,
And the dragon’s inferno was extinguished.
Forming from the smoke,
A tree grew.
A tree
As wise as the owl that perched on
The branches of navy.
Strong and sturdy,
Caring for the dragon infants
That rested on it.

The butterfly stopped flapping its wings
And a dire axe appeared.
Without any hesitation,
It slammed into the trunk of the tree.
Down and down, it
Fell.
It was silent.
No more breath.

Bryson Chen is fifteen years old. He lives in Christchurch, New Zealand.

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I Start at Blue – Georgina Scott

Numb lips
Frost bites
Cold hair

Dead eyes
Sunken ocean
Ships fading

Winds hoarse
Balloons empty
Icy walking

Iceberg melting
Colors frozen
Pendants hanging

Elbows, knees
Time frozen
Grief ridden

With Blue

Georgina Scott is twelve years old. She lives in Christchurch, New Zealand.

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[Untitled] – Zelle Logan

Zelle Logan is twelve years old. She lives in Christchurch, New Zealand.

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Penguins – Jeannie Hird

They waddle cutely
across the ice
Their bodies slide too.

So free when they swim
I know who they are
and hope you do too

They are…the penguins.

Jeannie Hird is nine years old. She lives in Wanganui, New Zealand. She is the first person ever to submit to fingers comma toes.

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