Imogen Rawlings-Green, Editor-in-Chief
@irawlingcourant
Throughout the school year, several students with a passion for poetry and creative writing have been able to produce incredible pieces. Seniors Neya Krishnan and Elena Unger in particular have found poetry to be a creative outlet throughout high school.
Neya’s 2020 New Year’s resolution was to write a poem every single day in a variety of forms such as haikus and sonnets. As a result of her accumulated works she decided to start an Instagram account (@neya_writes) which currently amasses around 850 followers and over 80 posts with her first poem posted called “Community as a Weapon.”
“I think there is something beautiful about writing for yourself but there was a point where I felt I wanted to share this work with other people and see other people’s feedback,” Neya said. “I remember in August we had a big blackout because of a storm and we lost power for nearly a week. I was writing throughout that time and when I was camping out under wifi all of a sudden I thought about starting an account for my poetry. It was really random but I just wanted a place where I could collect my works and look back on them.”
In terms of inspiration, both Neya and Elena found that real-life moments were the foundation for their writing. “I do believe in looking at life with a mantra that life is poetry and poetry is life,” said Elena. “I think I draw a lot of inspiration from how I am feeling and interactions with other people, like when my friend says something memorable or I see an interesting person when walking to Starbucks.”
Similarly, Neya finds that small moments in her life or strong feelings also stand out to her in writing poetry:
“So many of my poems are just stories of things that I have experienced. The most recent one I posted was in New York City and there was just this most beautiful elderly couple in front of me. She was just piercing every one of her husband’s hair because it was sticking out of his hat and kissing her and I thought that was love. It is just these little moments like these. A couple of days ago I was at a friend’s house who recently lost her aunt and she had all of her aunt’s old records. I was thinking about the way people’s legacies are in our lives even after we lose them and experiences like that were meaningful to me. The feeling of grief is especially a powerful thing to write about. So I get a lot of my inspiration from experiences and moments I witness as well as poetry writing challenges online such as Escapirl (write a poem every day in April). Online accounts and challenges like these where you literally have a whole community of people who love to do what you do is so great because you get to just fangirl over their works and learn from them. I also create a lot of poetry prompts on my site and to see what other people create with the words I have given them is also just super awesome. My best and most authentic pieces are from life,” said Neya.
Neya said her passion for poetry started with the poetry unit of her sixth grade when her English teacher printed copies of students writing in a cache. “I actually still have my cache with copies of my writing, with all the spelling mistakes and everything, and I found that I deeply love stories and storytelling to an audience,” said Neya.
Similarly, Elena Unger said her journey towards poetry began in second grade but she said she didn’t use writing as an introspective tool and way of navigating the world until high school. “I did this freshman poetry assignment with Ms. Brown where you look at an old photograph and you have to write as if you’re talking to yourself,” Elena said. “Before this project, I was writing about nature, friends, or other people but through this project, I learned that writing can be so deeply personal and raw. From there I got hooked and began to produce poems at a silly cadence.”
As high school progressed, both Neya and Elena’s passion for poetry progressed as an ongoing journey learning new reasons to love and learn the style of writing. “From Mr. McAteer’s poetry class I learned what goes into a poem, how to tell your own stories through poetry, trying to avoid “-ing” verbs and he also told us that we should write in a notebook,” said Neya. “Now my notebook became like my google docs and I am constantly inspired by poetry and see poetry in everything.”
Another experience Neya found that boosted her interest in writing was the creative writing club which inspired her to write and share her writing as well as write in her free time and not just for school. “Especially in my junior year I had no idea how to maintain my life and poetry was a moment of pause on the bus and it was a moment to reflect on something in the day,” said Neya.
A few inspirational poets that both of these writers look up to are Ocean Vuong, Natalie Diaz, Silver Plath, and Ava Limon. “Ocean Vuong’s collection of Night Sky with Exit Wounds is an incredible detailing of his experiences as a Vietnamese immigrant,” said Neya. “Natalie Diaz, a Native American poet, and her articulation and craft in her poetry is *chef kiss*. Silver Plath is an oldie but a goodie and there are so many great poets.”
“I love Ava Limon, I am in awe of her, and she is willing to admit all she doesn’t know and I honestly want to hang out with this woman. Her wiring is so tender, humble, and honest,” said Elena. English teacher Susan Steidl, who teaches sophomore English, senior English, and film as well as senior creative writing workshop has also been an inspiration to Elena. “Mrs. Steidl has also been my rock the past four years for writing. I loved her class sophomore year and she has been my advisor for the club and even the other day she forwarded me a poem that made her think of me. She is definitely a role model, mentor, and all of the above.”
While these seniors are graduating this year, both Neya and Elena will continue to pursue writing in some form or another through their college experience. “Creative writing has become a part of my life and is something that is really just able to reflect about the world which I want to continue at Tufts University. I want to do something STEM-related as well as publish books someday and continue to post on my poetry account because the community is so special,” said Neya.
“I just feel like in today’s world, art as a form is kind of seen as ‘don’t pursue that as a career because it is not going to make you money. Even for myself, I want to pursue creative writing and computer science and that still gives my parents heartache. I know that is the case for a lot of people and people often look down upon artists but I think you should write for yourself. If writing is a calling inside of you then tell stories that move and inspire. I don’t think it matters what other people think or if it is going to make you a career or not because I don’t think that is why we write. I think we write to preserve moments that need to be saved through writing that tell stories of humanity.”
Similarly, Elena wants to continue her passion for creative writing and poetry throughout her experience at Yale University. “1000% I want to study English, take writing seminars, join the Yale and Hippopotamus literary magazines, and join a writers group,” said Elena. “For me, poetry is something that is beautiful and full of joy and also medicinal for me. It is not something I could give up even if I wanted to.”
