Forthcoming August 2026

and I think it was that moment

that changed the way I understand every letter of the alphabet

and every pause in conversation

In the fall of 2024, high school junior Len Sienko Harrison ventured from Maine for a semester of introspection and exploration at The Mountain School of Milton Academy in Vermont. Universal Language is their intimate chronicle of those four months. Weaving classic themes of self-discover and friendship with pressing reflection on climate justice, Harrison calls humankind back to conversation with the natural world. Where do we end, and where does the forest begin? What do we owe each other and to the planet we inhabit? More than answers, these poems offer meditations that inspire readers in their own seasons of profound change.

POETRY | Paperback | 2026 | ISBN: 979-8-9967503-2-0

About the Author

Len Sienko Harrison wrote Universal Language as a senior at the Waynflete School in Portland, Maine. A lifelong coastal Mainer, Len discovered their love for the mountains of Vermont at a semester away program called The Mountain School of Milton Academy during the fall of their junior year. This debut collection of poetry serves as an attempt to capture that experience in words. In the fall, Len will attend Reed College, where he intends to continue his studies of ecology and language. When not writing, he can be found reading science fiction novels or exploring Maine’s woods and waters.