Poetry
Stella V.
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In my poetry and prose, no matter the topic, I always focus on time. The primary subjects of my writing are things that are often considered fragile or disposable under the influence of time: natural life forms like flowers that wilt and shrivel with age, alongside women, who are valued more or less in society depending on how old they are. The fleeting life of nature that has it grow and ultimately die before my eyes in only a short period of time is impactful on my work and how I am able to tell a story, start to end, in a short few stanzas. Additionally, my writing is characterized by the tempo of the piece and how I convey the passage of time by pacing, numerical lists, repetition, and other devices. I have found that writing with time constraints or other creative limits allows me to more accurately feel the influence of time and let it impact the pace and meaning of my works. Writing allows me to paint the full picture of a story over time, or choose to only show a snapshot of it in one moment.
My entire house is an art studio for my mother’s floral sculpture, and has made me very adept at working in a studio environment as a writer. Her studio practices—building large flowers and growing her own—allow me to closely observe the life cycles of flowers and other plants, and to appreciate the beauty in the passage of time and how it is made valuable by being so limited. I have often been inspired by my mother as a person in my writing—she is given so little time to focus on her work and herself, yet still manages to make beautiful things when she can, and I have gained an understanding of urgency from her that assists me in adjusting the tempo of my writing.
Additionally, my emphasis on the influences of time in my writing has been fueled by my background in music. I was a piano player for over five years, as well as participating in school bands, and have been in theatrical productions since childhood. Because of these experiences I am able to understand the importance of tempo in making a story flow, and in 2018, I was accepted to SPACE on Ryder Farm's family residency for my writing about the pace of poetry and music.
Time can be a deeply philosophical construct, but in my writing I aim to harness it as a tool to evoke feelings of lethargy or urgency, and to show the beauty in momentary things. The written word is powerful, and through it I am able to explore how the passage and speed of time affects my subjects.
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I am drawn to creative writing as a means to bridge gaps and connect people: amongst other things, my cultural folklore can be written into stories and translated across languages, and as my school’s theater director, I use creative writing to establish dialogue to form beautiful stage pictures.
