Returning Home to Harmony: A Poetry Exhibit

“It’s not just about creativity, it is about the person you’re becoming while you’re creating.”
Charlie Peacock

This quote perfectly illustrates the benefits of why the very act of creating is important: you become a new version of yourself in the process. That’s also what ‘Returning Home to Harmony: A Poetry Exhibit’ is all about.

Creativity is becoming extinct which is expressed in your mundane routines each day. As we step into certain areas of life, we adopt associated roles - that of a student, a spouse, parent, or a corporate professional. With these roles come responsibilities and the expectations to fulfill them – usually causing us to leave behind our inner creative who needs to come out and play from time to time.

In this poetry exhibit, college students and working professionals showcase their creativity in the form of poetry and art to:

1

Practice ‘open monitoring’ meditation

2

Harness the power of mindful communication/self-expression and community connection

3

Explore their “essentials’ required to create a harmonious personal (and/or global) environment as a means to enhance total wellbeing.

Narrative

ETHAN MATTHIAS

Dorm Life

The sun creeps up at dawn,

Striking the eyes of the student.

He groggily gets out of bed, and revels in his environment:

A desk, a laptop, a phone, a bathroom.

All the essentials right at his fingertips, but no space to breathe.

The University, a place of opportunity, feels like a prison.

The benefits are immense, but the slog of the day is poisonous.

He feels like he needs to be free; like he needs the space to succeed.

A fish trapped in a tank to small, the student feels nearly trapped;

Even socializing has it’s rules these days.

However, the student slogs on and continues

For he knows that one day he will be in a bigger better tank,

And that each passing day will grow his body and mind to be stronger and healthier than before

The sun sets and dusk approaches as the moon rises.

The students slowly shuts his eyes, and drifts off to sleep, preparing to do it all again the next day.

Sonnet

Wesley Bell

 

With hope and dreams of what my life will bring

My home relieves my deep anxiety

With calming lights and moments where birds sing

I feel a bliss and sweet sobriety

 

My clean and bright castle I love so dear

I wish my room could spread across the land

Our globe would have a little bit less fear

Let man and nature grow with hand in hand

 

My personal treasures I share with thee

And nature shows us how to build what’s lost

My place of rests also is in the trees

For a place to love I will pay the cost

 

Just like my home I want the world with peace

A world of love and bliss to never cease

Haiku

Brianna Lopez

Facing Yourself

Created April 21, 2021

 

Running away now,

Where is my true self in that?

Dream to live and dare.

Tyler Prather

What Will Be

Created April 21, 2021

 

Shift the cold to warm,

Disappointment to laughter,

Become the real me.

Justin Tandingan

Everything Counts

Created April 21, 2021

 

Small actions matter

Collectively they add up

To impactful change

Michael Palacios

Haiku

Little by little

Our actions help save the world

And it starts with you

Lyrics Poetry

Jonathan Chapman

This   is   going   to   be   an   attempt   at   lyric   poetry.   For   this   assignment, I   will   be   trying   to   follow iambic   pentameter   as   seen   in   traditional   lyric   poetry.

 

Softly   the   world   changed   around   us   today.

Things   are   no   longer   the   same   as   they   were.

Corporations   control   our   daily   lives.     We   no   longer   live   in   simplicity.

 

Our   lives   are   governed   by   innovation,

By   the   new   and   shiny   things   being   sold.

To   avoid   loss   of   one’s   satisfaction,

One   must   put   away   the   values   of   new

And   become   satisfied   with   the   old   things.

 

To   become   satisfied   with   what   surrounds.

To   be   satisfied   with   what   they   have   now.

 

The   world   has   faded   to   materials,

Rather   than   being   centered   in   one’s   love.

Perhaps   this   is   what   sets   the   tone   of   days,

The   lack   of   love   that   exists   around   us.

To   be   appreciative   of   others   now,

We   must   be   appreciative   of   our   lives

With   the   things   that   we   have   within   it   now

And   to   accept   where   we   are   in   our   lives.

Free Verse

Architha Bommena

A Green Harmony

Created April 23, 2021

 

She walks through campus Feeling distracted, 

chaotic Her mind a mess of vines, Completely intertwined

Her own expectations overwhelm her

 

Perhaps she is afraid she will be left behind

In a world that moves so quickly

I want to tell her she will be okay

 

That the green, a canopy of leaves,

The soft grass Is coming

And she will feel her gratitude, Content and beauty,

Breath and calm Overtake her

Benjahmin Johnson

Thankful

Created April 21, 2021

 

No salt. Fresh air amid a wavy, open sea. The fisherfolk, appreciative of the uniquely fresh air, take comfort in the bounding seas for its tumultuous bounties.

Taylor Luoma

The comforting smell of coffee fills my lungs

Early in the morning or late at night

The serotonin released

When my cold hands hold the warm cup

Energizes me more than the caffeine ever could

In the lively coffee shop

Or in my quiet home

No feeling could ever compare

To drinking, holding, or even just smelling

A cup of coffee

Ana Kucera

There’s Poetry All Around Me 

 

There is nothing better than waking up 

To the golden warmth of the sun, 

The content sigh,

The relaxing of the body,

The soft smile. 

To begin the day by being reminded

Of life and love,

Remembering that you are alive 

And that there is beauty all around

Being shone on with the tenderness and compassion

Of the sun.

Pastoral Poem

Kaya Hampton

 

I am like mother nature, she is like me

There is a lot underneath the surface that you cannot see

Like the forest burns wildly, new plants grow from their seed 

As my classes overwhelm me, it’s my turn to clean 

 

Once the books are all picked up, clothes hanged neat, my mind goes clear

One may say, clear as the sky as far as the eye can see

After the smoke settles, the birds fly and sing with glee

I sit on my clean white bed, watching them with my cup of tea 

Jerome Intia

The Locus of Focus

Clarity can be a rarity but should be achieved to avoid disparity

Balance is key, finding the right mix of happiness, health and family

Work is not just work it is also passion, thinking about achieving goals and putting it into action

A vision, a mission and plan to reimagine tomorrow, means deciding on the right signposts to follow

The road ahead is determined solely by my choice, I have to remember to listen to my inner voice

Taking time to reflect, thinking about all the lines that intersect, and truly committing to real introspect

Poetry Type: Narrative

Dorm Life

The sun creeps up at dawn,

Striking the eyes of the student.

He groggily gets out of bed, and revels in his environment:

A desk, a laptop, a phone, a bathroom.

All the essentials right at his fingertips, but no space to breathe.

The University, a place of opportunity, feels like a prison.

The benefits are immense, but the slog of the day is poisonous.

He feels like he needs to be free; like he needs the space to succeed.

A fish trapped in a tank to small, the student feels nearly trapped;

Even socializing has it’s rules these days.

However, the student slogs on and continues

For he knows that one day he will be in a bigger better tank,

And that each passing day will grow his body and mind to be stronger and healthier than before

The sun sets and dusk approaches as the moon rises.

The students slowly shuts his eyes, and drifts off to sleep, preparing to do it all again the next day.

There’s Poetry All Around Me (pt. 2)

(free verse)

 

There is nothing better than waking up 

To the golden warmth of the sun, 

The content sigh,

The relaxing of the body,

The soft smile. 

To begin the day by being reminded

Of life and love,

Remembering that you are alive 

And that there is beauty all around

Being shone on with the tenderness and compassion

Of the sun.

I will be writing a sonnet which is a type of rhymed poetry

 

With hope and dreams of what my life will bring

My home relieves my deep anxiety

With calming lights and moments where birds sing

I feel a bliss and sweet sobriety

 

My clean and bright castle I love so dear

I wish my room could spread across the land

Our globe would have a little bit less fear

Let man and nature grow with hand in hand

 

My personal treasures I share with thee

And nature shows us how to build what’s lost

My place of rests also is in the trees

For a place to love I will pay the cost

 

Just like my home I want the world with peace

A world of love and bliss to never cease

Haiku

Little by little

Our actions help save the world

And it starts with you