I have always been drawn to words in regards to spelling, writing essays, and learning new meanings in the English language. This started as early as 2nd grade when I remember writing a lengthy “How to make chocolate chip cookies” recipe essay while other kids around me struggled with reading and writing. Ever since then, I have been tremendously drawn to writing and the topic of English.
By the time I was in high school, I pushed myself when it came to English class and learned as much as I could; from reading “Catcher in the Rye” freshman year, to writing my own personal college essay senior year. On my own time, I took to pencil and paper and experimented with rhyming, writing and poetry. With no specific source or inspiration, I wrote small poems and prose as I dabbled into this new exciting hobby. Coming to college, I knew I had to dedicate a good chunk of my time to English.
After taking ENGL 102 and ENGL 201, I knew that poetry was for me. I had learned the in’s and out’s of how a workshop was run and fell in love with Geneseo even more when I heard that they offered a poetry workshop. I applied and was accepted. Not ever was there a doubt in my mind that this was something I didn’t want to do, but on the other hand, I was a bit nervous about the advanced level I was getting myself into. So far, we are about 5 classes in and my nerves have gone away. I am learning more than I would have realized from our thoughtful classroom discussions, outside class readings, and peer editing students work.
I like hearing about the journey you’ve gone on here, and the role that both reading and the ability to communicate – including a recipe – that writing has. And I’m glad the nerves have gone away!
What I want to push you on this semester is reflecting on the stimuli that spark a poem for you. As a lover of words, it could be that spending time with the Oxford English Dictionary (available online via Milne if you’re signed in) or an Etymological dictionary might be a great spark, taking you to the nuances of words. If context and language matters more, you might find that glossary e.g. of medical terms or weather terms give you a rich mine from which to take ideas. Or perhaps it’s more to do with words as part of a tension or conflict, and that might take you to news stories and real-life events, and the way language is used in them (“the war on terror” as a phrase, for instance). By coming to understand what we’re taking from the world to make a poem, we can understand how to make that poem, and to some extent why – the hope we have for our poems. I’m looking forward to reading more and seeing where you’re headed with all this.
I think it’s very interesting how your love of English and writing started from a young age because so did mine. I also had a similar experience with the poetry workshops here. I took ENGL 201 with Caroline Beltz-Hosek and I loved every second of it. Now I’m in this poetry class and an Editing and Production class of the SUNY literary magazine Gandy Dancer and I’m obsessed.
I also think it’s really interesting that you consciously worked on your poetry and it’s formatting/structure through high school. I’m really excited to read your poetry this semester and see how else you experiment with format and your inspirations. I find that sometimes when I don’t have a specific inspiration, I come up with a story in my head or an emotion I want to convey, and then I free write and just see what comes out on paper. Eventually, I see myself going in a certain direction and then I run with it. If you’re ever struggling with ideas, perhaps that could be a useful trick to use, whatever works for you.
I also wonder if you still have that recipe you wrote when you were young? I know looking at old journals and paintings from elementary school jogs memories for me and puts me in a really good mindstate to write poetry. Something about the nostalgia of old writings from when you were too innocent to really know what you were doing is so emotional and inspiring to me, I wonder if you’d have a similar experience.