Hunter Schmale

Course: Creative Writing, ENGL-218
Professor: Austrie Duarte
Assignment Title: Poem 1 and Photograph Poem

Assignment Details

These are two poems that I wrote for Creative Writing with Professor Duarte. The poem on the left, called Private Moment, is constructed mostly form old journal entries, and the poem on the right was inspired by a photograph I took of some old books in the attic of the library where I used to work, and is called Storage: Youth Programming/Old Books.

Application

I am an English major with a concentration in Creative Writing, so these assignments are about as connected to my field of study as two assignments can be. My goal is to one day be a professional writer, though poetry is not a medium that I work in very often. However, because poetry is so based in pure language and imagery and sound, practicing it helps to improve in all areas of writing, creative and otherwise.

Results/Conclusions

From this assignment, I learned that pillaging old journal entries is a great way to fill up an empty gas tank, creatively, and that old photographs connected to specific memories and time periods are great prompts for generating ideas.

Challenges and Successes

One challenge I tried to overcome while writing the Photograph Poem was making it make sense without the context of the photo. Ultimately, I don’t think I overcome this challenge, but I do think it could be overcome in the future with some editing/revision.