Most all of us have childhood dreams. Few of us achieve them. Fewer still attain them before leaving high school.

But, Windsor Central High School senior Morgan Ferguson has done just that. She is now a published author. Her poem, Light, is featured in Appelley Publishing’s 2020 Rising Starts Collection. 

“Being a published author has been my dream job since 2nd grade. At first, this was mostly because I liked books so much that I wanted to write more of them. However, as time went on, I realized that I enjoyed the craft itself, and I liked to challenge myself to improve,” said Ferguson. 
What about the craft does Ferguson enjoy so much?

“When I write, I love the feeling of breathing life into the page and spinning a coherent story. It might not make much sense, but I love the way the sounds of the words blend together to create a symphony that drowns out the rest of the world. Then, I love watching how that same symphony morphs into a vibrant painting that shifts and speaks. It’s cathartic in a way that nothing else really compares to,” said Ferguson.

Ferguson was the founder and president of Windsor’s Literary Club, which she began last year as a junior. 

“It was an opportunity for others like me, and it was a way to connect and show that creative writing is an art form on the same level as music and the visual arts. My only hope for it, now, is that it will remain as a club in the school after I’m gone, and that we’ll finally complete the first edition of the magazine that we so desperately wanted to complete while I was still there,” said Ferguson. 

“Morgan is uncommonly gifted. We would spend many lunch and advisory meetings together where she would share her poetry and listen to and give feedback to the other members of the Literary Club,” said Literary Club advisor Karen Brey. 

Ferguson will attend Wells College in the fall to pursue an English major with a concentration in Creative Writing. She would like to become a professional novelist and a poet, with her genres of choice being Fantasy and Science Fiction. She may also study psychology to become a therapist as a way to pay the bills as she tries to make it as a writer. 

“Either way, I’m not going to stop writing anytime soon, nor am I going to stop trying to publish more of my works,” said Ferguson.

You can read Light below: 

Light 

The sun issued an ultimatum
To the land below:
“Reclaim the light of antiquity, 
Or perish in your woe.” 

The poet sought the answer
In the void beneath the skin;
They saw light in fervent passion,
In focusing instead on fleeting grins.

But the genius, with his intellect,
Knew knowledge was the key;
He fashioned monuments and manuscripts
Of present ingenuity.

And the king ignored the both of them,
Conquering distant, shining shores— 
To smite the brutes that kept them
From the golden light of yore.

“You fools!” proclaimed the sun, 
Perceiving all that had transpired.
“The light you see is not salvation, 
But your funeral pyre!”