The Goldenrod Poetry Festival with guest poet Stacia Fleegal was Monday, April 9. I asked this year’s three winners to tell us about the birth of their poem and their life as an English major. You can read their poems by following the above link.
Isiah Fish, first place, tells us that
I hate ketchup.
So, I suppose “Catch Up” was born from hatred. It was the day before the submission deadline and I had yet to crank out anything that I loved so I started writing various things—a line here, a phrase there—hoping that my little nothings would turn into something. I wrote the last seven lines of “Catch Up” and immediately knew I had my ending. So I went back and wrote a beginning. I’m kind of fascinated with relationships post breakup which is how the beginning started. I was revising the piece when I decided to pepper it with suggestions that the narrator was a serial killer or cannibal or lunatic. The reader gets to ultimately decide.
I’m very excited to be a part of the English community here at Western. I haven’t gotten to dip my toes into any of the Creative Writing classes yet because I’m only a freshman but I plan to dive in full force in the fall. I like to go to poetry readings and support other writers by listening to what they’ve all come up with.
