Alissa Ruebusch has liked writing her whole life. When she was younger she and her family would play a game in which they would give her a random word to write a poem about. She has always loved writing and she sees inspiration for poetry everywhere. Alissa says “This is kind of something I could, you know, something I could do wherever”.
She sees writing poetry as a way to express yourself and ideas. She compares writing poems to talking or the kinds of clothing you wear. The class has exposed her to many different styles of poetry and different poets she hadn’t heard of before taking the class.
She’s grateful to teacher Kelly Dick for pushing her and giving her new creative tools to use although she was intimidated by him at first. “I think he’s a very like, poetic existential dude and I think that makes a good poetry teacher,” Alissa comments, admitting she admires his ability to teach such an abstract topic like poetry. She feels comfortable rhyming in almost all her poems but Mr. Dick has been pushing her to step out of her comfort zone with different prompts.
Poetry is highly personal so Alissa often uses her personal experiences to write poetry and states it helps her find different parts of herself. It’s easier for her to add her personal experiences into poetry because it is a less direct form of writing. Poetry is very vulnerable but Alissa believes that the only way you can write genuinely good poetry is by incorporating your experiences. It’s scary to be vulnerable, especially in a class like Mr. Dick’s where they must perform poetry for their peers, but she pushes through knowing it is the only way to show her art and expose people to poetry.
“If you write it and know that you don’t necessarily have to show it to anybody that helps…once you see it and then you start enjoying the poetry that you’re writing, you become more comfortable with sharing those ideas because you know it’s a good poem,” she says, regarding how she achieves vulnerability in her writing.
Poetry has helped Alissa find different parts of herself; she will find herself writing about something a lot that she didn’t even realize had affected her so much. “For me at least, a lot of times I’ll add personal experiences or thoughts or feelings that I wouldn’t go outright and say.” The idea that you can write without having to show anyone helps her write about more vulnerable things.
She sees inspiration everywhere and loves to look at the small details that might go unnoticed like how a woman wears her scarf. She hopes that through her writing she can show people that writing poetry isn’t a difficult abstract concept. She knows there is inspiration everywhere.
The class has exposed Alissa to many different styles and poets she hadn’t heard of before. She looks forward to applying her new knowledge and getting more comfortable in her writing. “I think it’s been fun so far. It’s been interesting to learn, and be exposed to all these different poets, different styles of writing, and different parts of myself and me as a writer that I didn’t exactly know existed,” she recaps her experience in the class as a whole.