Emi Yamashiro-Hergert is a writer currently attending high school in Santa Monica. She has been reading and writing as long as she can remember and discovered her love of poetry over the pandemic as a way to express the emotions beginning to overflow from her mind. Her finalist poem, “the insssomniac hive mind,” explores the power of creative self-expression as a means to escape the pressures of a conformist society. The poem highlights Emi’s desire to use the platform of poetry to advocate for causes that she is passionate about, such as mental health and human rights.