Sandwick, Shetland – faces of seashell and seafoam,
hair like windblown sand, reed-straight, they live
twelve hours by boat from the nearest railway platform,
keepers of long-haired ponies and small-boned sheep,
at home with otters and gulls and harbour seals.
And Washington, D.C. – faces of coffee and cola,
hair like cored earth, wire-coiled, they move
daily across the concrete grid, navigate by Metro stations,
sleep to a lullaby of sirens and motors,
children of industry and government.
I want to say that I connect them,
stepping out of the classroom in Sandwick
and two weeks later into the school library in Washington
but more accurately, I can see the connection
behind the blank faces, pale and dark –
behind their seapool and inkwell eyes
all their young hearts are patterning wisdom and meaning,
their young minds filled
with bright images and dark secrets
waiting for release.

Elizabeth Wein holds American and British citizenship and has lived in Scotland since 2000, where she earned her private pilot’s license at the Scottish Aero Club. Flight inspires her young adult novels, including Code Name Verity (2012), which won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America. It became a Number 1 New York Times bestseller in 2020. Her novel Stateless (2023) won the Crimefest Award and the International Thriller Writers Thriller Award in 2024. Elizabeth also writes non-fiction. Her most recent title, with co-author Sherri L. Smith, is American Wings: Chicago’s Pioneering Black Aviators and the Race for Equality in the Sky (2024). She teaches in a low-residency MFA programme for Creative Writing for Children and Young Adults at Hamline University in Minnesota, and is married to games developer Tim Gatland. They have two grown children. Connect with Elizabeth on Facebook, on Instagram, or on her website.