“Mothers gathered their / white / kids from the dark My / dark / mother gathered / empty / cans while I waited to gather my / white / kid I waited to gather / white / Jeremiah He was / the skeleton / walking past my house.” —excerpt from “Hand-Me-Down Halloween” by Natalie Diaz

High school writers, today is the day! Here is the prompt for the Twelfth Annual Narrative High School Writing Contest:

“Too dark before dawn to see them, but out there are lakes of pale silvery starlight, from one shore to another, not the tick of one cricket to warn us of how thin the cracked ice is over the future.” —excerpt from “First Frost over Harvested Fields” by Ted Kooser

“I like the names of all your plants: purple haze, skywalker, blue dream, northern lights. ‘How do the ducks know where to go?’ I reach over you to the bed stand for my glass, lured by your scent, intoxicating as wine.” —excerpt from “Hunters” by Ola Szczecinska

“He’d already arranged the whole thing. He’d supposed her dead and there was no denying the freedom he’d felt to pursue exactly what he wanted—in New York City, no less. Queenie was shaken, and weary too.” —excerpt from “The Queen of Providence” by Jane Lancellotti