Students Make Art with Language in Ten Lines or Less
In its second year, 鈥淭he Five to Ten Line Poetry Contest,鈥� hosted by the UMass Boston Creative Writing Program, encouraged undergraduate students from all majors to channel their experiences living through a pandemic into their writing. What the program received was a collection of five-to-ten-line poetry that captured the mixed emotions of grief, isolation, love, and loss that 2020 brought to the forefront.
鈥� Art can help us grieve. Art can make us laugh. While art cannot heal all of our troubles, art can help us heal. 鈥�
Director of the Undergraduate Creative Writing Program John Fulton said this year鈥檚 poems were marked by the lockdown and the 鈥済eneral turmoil we鈥檝e all been through.鈥�
鈥淥f course, it could be that I鈥檓 just reading them that way, given that, like so many others, I鈥檝e been homebound and searching headlines for any signs on the horizon that things will get better,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut I don鈥檛 think any reader could miss the images of grief, absence, and confinement in these beautiful, short works.鈥�
On a celebratory Zoom call to recognize the finalists and announce the winners, Fulton thanked and applauded every student for contributing their work and 鈥渢aking the time to make art with language.鈥� Students had the opportunity to read their own poems aloud with introductions from the panel of judges, current MFA Creative Writing students.
In runner-up Autumn Nutile鈥檚 poem, 鈥淏itter Grief,鈥� the speaker of the poem dreams someone back to life only to find this person gone again in waking life, Fulton said. In Shelby Hill鈥檚 poem, 鈥淐ardinal 2,鈥� which received an honorable mention, the speaker spies a cardinal on a branch outside only to look away for a moment and then find the bird gone.
鈥淭he final thought of the speaker reverberates with loss: 鈥業 think I would rather die/than look at those empty branches again,鈥欌�� he said.
English major Rose Flaherty took the top prize of the contest and received $100 for her poem titled 鈥淕randpa is Emaciated and Only Eats Bananas,鈥� in which a family removes the lock from the bathroom to keep a confused grandparent from locking himself in.
鈥淎s a result, the speaker can鈥檛 use the bathroom without him walking in on her: 鈥楪uess privacy is the price to pay/so grandpa won鈥檛 die in the bathroom,鈥欌�� Fulton said.
鈥淭hese poems look outside windows for hope and speak of rooms that either dangerously confine us or won鈥檛 give us the liberty of privacy. The poems dream of lost worlds that won鈥檛 come back. That鈥檚 not an easy vision,鈥� Fulton said. 鈥淏ut I think it鈥檚, at least in part, the world we鈥檙e in now. And I鈥檓 thankful that these poets have allowed us to look at it together.鈥�
MFA Creative Writing student and contest judge Jake Phillips said as a poet, he doesn鈥檛 support the notion that artists must suffer for their art but believes art can help us 鈥渞espond, process, support one another, and lift marginalized voices.鈥�
鈥淎rt can help us grieve. Art can make us laugh. While art cannot heal all of our troubles, art can help us heal,鈥� he said.
Rose Flaherty鈥檚 Winning Poem: 鈥淕randpa is Emaciated and Only Eats Bananas鈥�
He doesn鈥檛 know any better
always locks the door from the inside,
We have to use a screw to save him
put it right in that small hole on the doorknob,
Mom taped up the push in the lock
so now he can鈥檛 keep it closed,
Except now when I pee
he just walks right in,
Guess privacy is the price to pay
so grandpa won鈥檛 die in the bathroom.
The Five-to-Ten-Line Poetry Contest Finalists:
Winner: Rose Flaherty, 鈥淕randpa is Emaciated and Only Eats Bananas鈥�
Runner-Up: Hannah Ortiz, 鈥淐asting yourself as the villain in every movie鈥�
Runner-Up: Autumn Nutile, 鈥淏itter Grief鈥�
Honorable Mention: Shelby Hill, 鈥淐ardinal 2鈥�