Sabin Gabra
Staff Writer
The Ludwick Center Sacred Space hosted a poetry reading that was open to all as the reading showcased the talent of five poets on Tuesday.
The audience was buzzing with excitement as the poets took the stage one by one. The student poets were senior journalism and creative writing major Kamila De La Fuente, junior creative writing major Jocelyn Hancock, sophomore creative writing major Janira Hernandez, sophomore education major Geneva Murillo and freshman criminology major Shanelle Ruelas.
Hancock’s poem was heavily inspired by John Mayer’s, “Slow Dancing In A Burning Room.” She explained that she wanted to write about the emotion of expired love.
“Writing in a traditional poetic format isn’t something that comes very naturally to me as a fiction writer,” Hancock said. “I have been exploring it since I was a high school freshman.”
Hancock likes to listen to songs that help her articulate the feeling into something she can grasp and further explore. She also enjoys all the interpretations that come with analyzing poetry.
“You can have a theme in mind that someone does not catch, but they can instead unravel a completely different layer to it that you never thought to consider,” Hancock said.
Seats were quickly filled up by students waiting to hear their friends read poems. This was one of the many ways students were able to express themselves and have their friends cheer them on.
“I loved the creativity and the fact that they can turn something that may have caused a negative impact in their lives to something so beautiful,” Andrea Silva, freshman kinesiology major, said.
Next up was Hernandez. The idea behind her poem was to reflect on the past two years of her life, the hopefulness she felt after and closing that cycle of being in a bad mental state.
Early last year, Hernandez was going through a rough patch in life, especially in high school. She explained how she often found herself coping by spending a lot of time mourning in bed at night.
While lying in bed under her sheets, she would often listen to the album “Cinema” by The Marias. More specifically, “Fog as a Bullet,” “Talk to Her” and “The Mice Inside this Room,” which provided her with a lot of comfort.
“One night, when I was repeating the same cycle of lying in bed sulking, I decided to write ‘The Covers,’” Hernandez said.
She has not written a lot of poetry, but this semester has opened her eyes to all the bits and pieces of it.
Hernandez likes that poetry allows a person to be expressive in a cinematic way. She said that although she does not consider herself a poet, she sees herself observing life in a poetic-like form.
“Poetry ties into creativity, which I believe is one of the best characteristics a person can obtain in order to succeed,” Hernandez said.
Murillo shared that her personal experience with being rejected by people in her church inspired her to write her poem.
“I wanted to share this because I felt as if God gave me an opportunity to share this poem he helped me work through,” Murillo said.
She processes a lot of her own experiences through writing, so being able to finally have a space where she has a voice, was a great opportunity for her and for other people who have gone through similar situations.
“I went through a lot of trauma coming off the mission field where I was born and raised in Mexico,” Murillo said. “I have felt like this gift was only given to me by God, and I would not be able to write the way I do without inspiration from him.”
The poem she read pointed to hurtful conversations she has had with people, and it was difficult for her to go through. She said the poem is like a response to the conversations.
Murillo said her favorite poem she wrote was for her boyfriend in Spanish because she is able to write in her native language.
“They say Spanish is the language of romance as well as French,” Murillo said. “Even though he does not know Spanish yet, I hope he will one day understand the complete complex love that I have for him.”
Sabin Gabra can be reached at sabin.gabra@laverne.edu.
Correction
In an earlier version of this story, the names of two student poets were omitted and the first speaker at the poetry reading was incorrectly identified. Kamila De Fuente and Shanelle Ruelas also read their poems, and De La Fuente was the first speaker. The Campus Times regrets the errors.
Sabin Gabra, a freshman communications major with a public relations concentration, is a staff writer for the Campus Times.
