Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri

These poems by twelve-year-old Maya Ghosh startled me with their emotional intelligence and the eerie clarity of their imagery. In ‘Shadows’, she gives shape and voice to the parts of ourselves we often avoid confronting; in ‘Beautiful Flowers’, she transforms an everyday experience into a quietly unsettling fable about pain and resignation; and in ‘Vines and Chains’, she imagines the inner life with rare tenderness and urgency. What impressed me most is her instinctive grasp of metaphor – not as decoration, but as a way of thinking. These are poems of depth, courage, and a precocious, searching imagination.

About Maya Nirmala Ghosh

I am a twelve-year-old student at Ransom Everglades School in Miami, Florida. Poetry has been a passion of mine from a young age, and I find it a powerful way to explore the world around me and express what I observe and feel. Reading, writing, and dance all help me understand myself and connect with others. My work has previously appeared in Poetic Power, where I was a top 10 winner in the summer of 2024, and my poem ‘Mirror’ was published in Today’s Pressured Youth (IHRAM Press, 2025). I am also a third prize winner of the La Plume Fiction writing competition in the Middle School Category for 2025.