Dear Editor,

I find that in Teen Ink, most of the top voted poems are about depression, hopelessness, and brokeness. While I understand that these poems are voted top by the readers and not by the Teen Ink staff, I'd like to point out that by constantly adding these dreary (and in a way suicide-promoting) works to your site, you might be encouraging depression, low self-worth, and even eating disorders among the teen readers.

I respect Teen Ink for being a place where teens can share their thoughts and hearts, but I believe that it needs to also be a place where teens can give hope to others who are struggling. At the end of most of these "#1" poems, I often find that the author includes no hope for the future, no "but-I'll-keep-persisting" attitude, but rather a bleak outlook on life. Why do you add these works to your site, to reflect the joyless community of teens?

I am requesting that you include 8 hopeful and encouraging poems on your site every month. It's not that much to ask, and I am confident it would benefit all teens reading the works on your website. Just 8!

And a note to those who are reading: I encourage you to change the generation and to submit encouraging, comforting, supportive poems. Even if your poem is about a hard time in your life, please don't let it end there. Bring hope to the end of your works. Hope.

Even one poem can change the world. That I am sure of.