Inscape – William Jewell College’s artistic magazine that publishes poetry, fiction, non-fiction and art from Jewell students – released its 2021 edition on April 23, honoring several contributors later that night at the Celebration of Honors.

Four contributing writers and artists received Student Publication Awards this year: Michaela Esau for Inscape Poem of the Year; Jenna Hultgren for Inscape Fiction of the Year; James Hobbs for Inscape Creative Nonfiction of the Year and Kenton Fox-Horst for Inscape Fine Art of the Year. 

Three poems by Esau, junior Oxbridge literature and theory and communications major, were published in the new edition of Inscape: ”The Ninnescah River,” “Paper Crane People” and “Laid Plans.” She emphasized the importance of being in nature and drawing on personal experiences as inspiration for these poems.

“I just love being in nature and I write whatever words that come to mind,” Esau said. “I think it’s easier to write in nature. ‘The Ninnescah River’ was about the time I spent in summer camp and my experience of growing up in church. I think that’s a big part of my life and that was something I reflected on in the poem. ‘Paper Crane People’ is just kind of about how to be a good person. It’s just a combination of different experiences.”

The 2021 issue of Inscape featured many of Jewell’s artistically-inclined students including Esau, Faith Harris, Krista Halstead, Kenton Horst-Fox, Savannah Hawley, Jenna Hultgren, Sequoia Crissman, Erin Gray, James Hobbs, Thom Hennelly and Isabel Warden. 

Although the magazine will not be printed this year, the new issue can be found on Inscape’s website and a physical copy can be purchased for $7.88.

By Elise Villarreal

What color am I to you?

Because when I think of you,

It’s definitely blue.

The stillness of your voice,

Is the obvious choice,

That you are my calm

My deliverance from the gone.

And when I think of him,

When our chances are slim

The color that comes to mind  is

Green

But not because it’s serene

This color definitely does not

Soothe my storm

If anything it only makes me

Feel more forlorn.

And when I think of that man

Who claims to be my “biggest

Fan”,

Only one color enters my head

And, that color, has to be red.

All he does is plead and moan

He cries and pouts that he

Can’t call me his own

I want to be pretty and I want to

Be clean

But I just get all mixed up

In this messy color scheme

Everything is racing right

Towards my heart

But this time, I won’t let myself

Fall apart.

I’ll pick up my medias, and

Design my own hue

Because honestly

I just can’t deal, with all of you.  

Elise Villarreal, junior English and theater major, spoke to the Hilltop Monitor about how, on the surface level, she wrote this poem about three colors. However, Looking deeper each color represents a person in her life at a point in time and her relationship with each person. She had difficulty explaining the depths of what the poem means to her, because writing poetry is how she explores emotion and thoughts that she cannot always express verbally.

“I can never find the words when I’m speaking – I can only write well,” Villarreal said. “I can appreciate precision of language on a page, especially for me, because I’m not very confident when it comes to conversation.”

Villarreal said writing helps her to think through her feelings. To her it makes sense for poetry to have this effect. She said that this is the job of a writer, to articulate ideas that can be cathartic but also relatable to an audience.

Villarreal realized she enjoyed writing in first grade, when a teacher provided her with a blank hard cover book and told her to fill it up. Inside, she wrote an entire story and drew pictures to go with it. In her self described “emo years” of middle school, she began writing poetry that she said was dark and horrible. She began to journal in sixth grade, writing poems whenever she thought of them, although she said she is a terrible journaler. She keeps many journals but nearly all are unfilled.

Taking Dr. Williams’ class was a turning point for Villarreal’s poetry. She said Dr. Williams is a “real life poet’’ and taught her how to be more intentional with her language – that every word needs to mean something.

“When I was writing before, it was just kind of my thoughts,” Villarreal said. “I was trying to come across as poetic, but [I] really wasn’t fulfilling that job because a poem itself, at least the way I see it, because a poem is an extreme feeling contained in a few words.”

Poetry can be fun, just playing with words according to Villarreal, but also frustrating trying to find the right words. Her next challenge is improving her performance in poetry readings, Villarreal said. Dr. Williams has asked her to read poetry at different events, and Villarreal continues to oblige despite the fact that she does not enjoy it so far. She said her voice shakes, and she cannot control it, but she believes that with persistence she will improve.

“I’m not scared of it, it’s just my performance ability hasn’t reached its full potential yet,” Villarreal said. “The fact that I don’t like it just comes from the fact that I’m not good yet, but I could be.”

Villarreal said that someone who wants to become a better writer should just write more. She said that when she got into writing poetry she just wrote constantly, and eventually she began to see it as solving a puzzle, putting words to a page, finding the right words to describe what she’s thinking.

“It starts to become fun and intriguing after you start to realize how much of it is in your control, over what works, what doesn’t, putting words together, taking them apart, making them rhyme, making them not rhyme, making an image that is interesting,” Villarreal said. “It’s just realizing the power that your voice has over all the words in language.”

While Villareal does not want to pursue poetry as a career, she said she will always value her skill in poetry. Understanding how to become intentional with word choice has made her a better writer in general, even with a text or a tweet. She said now she knows what words will make a message come across clearly, or which will pack the most punch.

“It’s all about being intentional with your words, and so being able to use that in all aspects of writing is really an important skill,” Villarreal said.

Photo courtesy of Elise Villarreal

I attribute this opinion to standardized education that makes students track rhyme scheme or forces them to dissect a poem like a timed surgery. No one is able to enjoy anything when it’s forced upon them. In elementary school, students were forced to write haikus about mundane activities. In middle school, they were forced to write short poems about who they are when they didn’t even fully know that answer. Then, to make it worse they were exposed to Shakespearean poetry. Personally, I’m obsessed with Shakespeare’s poetry and plays, but that’s because I had a great English teacher who exposed the true meaning behind his poems and didn’t just track the iambic pentameter in every line. Students have learned to rely on Sparknotes for interpretations instead of interpreting the poem by themselves. They look for the single “right” answer instead of understanding that poetry has many “right” answers and interpretations.

Once someone understands that poetry is filled with many different interpretations, they can view the true world of poetry.

Poems tend to hold insights into the world around you if one would only focus and read them, especially since every single word in a poem is intentional. The intentionality of poetry is what I enjoy the most. The use of words to communicate emotion is completely beautiful. Every word used is loaded with connotative meaning that can evoke something different in each reader.

Poetry can be used to communicate ideas and expand view points. A single poem can open the reader’s eyes to a viewpoint they never considered. It also brings up feelings in the reader. The reader, then, can relate and communicate to someone they may have never even met.  Poetry can open a whole new world of feelings and possibilities for someone new to the subject.

In order to start appreciating poetry, people must go deep into poems. They should analyze context, diction and syntax. These terms may seem stuffy, but dissecting the poem in this way can reveal hidden meanings that a reader may not ever notice. By doing this, a reader can reread a poem 100 times and find something new each read.

A common question poets often ask each other is, “Is Poetry dead?” I believe poetry is viewed as “dead” because no one knows of the other side of poetry. They think of poetry only in terms of old Victorian writings.

But, slowly, poetry is becoming more mainstream, mostly in “Instagram poetry,” like “Milk and Honey” by Rupi Kaur. This collect speaks about break ups and abuse, which are super current and important topics. It’s super relatable for anyone who’s going through a hard time, so I understand why teens seem to love it, but this book has turned more into a symbol than an appreciated work of poems. I see “Milk and Honey” posts all over social media, but it is never actually analyzed for its content exclusively. These poems are filled with cliches about breakups and hard times, but many people love them because they aren’t exposed to any other poetry. I’m not saying that this poetry is bad. It’s a great place to start. But in order to appreciate poetry truly, one must dive deep into a variety of works. I truly love how this poetry helps people get through struggling times, but I would hope this isn’t the only poetry people read nowadays. I have come to appreciate “Instagram poetry” because it keeps this amazing art form alive.

I would love, though, to see more varieties of poetry appreciated by many different groups of people. There’s a vast world of poetry out there just waiting for an interested reader. Poetry can be written about really anything, so there’s something for everyone. Appreciation and revival of poetry will take time, but I hope that people will start to give poetry a second chance. They would be pleasantly surprised with what they found.

Photo by Christina Kirk.