lefttobears
Ophelia Baker | Young Artists Issue | Poetry, Winter 2026
snowunderfoot
styrofoam
crunches
mybonesrebel
backtothat
daydreamof
powderbeneath
barefeet—
igoinsidebehind
backtomyscreen
outsideforgotten
lefttobears
andbeasts
coconutlotionthen
woolen
socks,drawer
leftopen
soyoucancomeand
gowheneveryouwant.
______________________________________
Why is this piece your Trace Fossil?
“Just as a trace fossil alludes to a bigger story, locking the object in time, these two poems in particular are snapshots of my own messy navigation through complicated feelings about a break-up. I wrote them while careening towards bitterness. I craved to create something which I could leave behind for them to “find," an impression of how I really feel.”
Ophelia Baker is a senior at Wheaton North High School, and will be majoring in Journalism and Chinese at DePaul University in the fall. She placed 1st and 2nd in poetry at the DuKane Conference Litfest in 2025, and won Critic’s Choice for poetry in 2024. She and her sister have shown their rebuilt 1968 Dodge Charger at MCACN two years in a row winning the Future Generations' Fabricator Award and the Gilmore Car Museum's Sponsor Pick. Daily cappuccinos and cuddles with her corgi mix, Mr. Wiggles, are non-negotiables.
leftobears
Ophelia Baker
Young Artists Issue | Poetry, Winter 2026
snowunderfoot
styrofoam
crunches
mybonesrebel
backtothat
daydreamof
powderbeneath
barefeet—
igoinsidebehind
backtomyscreen
outsideforgotten
lefttobears
andbeasts
coconutlotionthen
woolen
socks,drawer
leftopen
soyoucancomeand
gowheneveryouwant.
______________________________________
Why is this piece your Trace Fossil?
“Just as a trace fossil alludes to a bigger story, locking the object in time, these two poems in particular are snapshots of my own messy navigation through complicated feelings about a break-up. I wrote them while careening towards bitterness. I craved to create something which I could leave behind for them to “find," an impression of how I really feel.”
Ophelia Baker is a senior at Wheaton North High School, and will be majoring in Journalism and Chinese at DePaul University in the fall. She placed 1st and 2nd in poetry at the DuKane Conference Litfest in 2025, and won Critic’s Choice for poetry in 2024. She and her sister have shown their rebuilt 1968 Dodge Charger at MCACN two years in a row winning the Future Generations' Fabricator Award and the Gilmore Car Museum's Sponsor Pick. Daily cappuccinos and cuddles with her corgi mix, Mr. Wiggles, are non-negotiables.