Open Mic #2, a recap — with PHOTOS ADDED!
A late night of poetry, prose, and positively perfect presenters.
At the last Open Mic night of the Fall semester, In Process had a massive turnout with students presenting work from many different genres. We were blown away by the audience's abundant participation presenting and discussing the pieces they worked so hard on. Some audience members stayed till 7:00 p.m., and Keaston Sigler, a regular In Process attendant, commented, “We got all night.” It is no surprise students with such an obvious passion for writing wanted to spend the night soaking in the creativity MTSU’s writing community offers.
Morgan Lewelling presented a collection of flash fiction.
Morgan, I noticed most of your pieces had childlike qualities in them. Even at one point you said, “We were adults, but in the snow, we were children.” Was that intentional?
I felt like especially since these are all romantic stories, childlike love is more pure and innocent. It means a lot more to me personally. It also has a lot of nostalgic feeling to it. Which I wanted to reflect more in my writing especially in the story about the tire swing, because they don’t end up together at the end. So, it was almost like she was saying goodbye to her childhood.
Keaston Sigler presented a piece of flash fiction.
Keaston, you used a lot of colors. You even titled your work “Blue Rabbit.” What do you think color adds to your storytelling?
I don’t know if it is anything more than adding some more detail to the scene. Color is not the focus that I’m thinking about when I’m writing. It’s kind of automatic almost, whatever seems appropriate. With that being said, I was conscious about making the rabbit blue. Perhaps for not any deeper reason than it seems to stand out from everything else around it. I think that’s about the extent to which I was thinking about the colors.
You had even pointed out the intense pink color of the rabbit's eye, and I thought that really added something to the story.
Sneh Gaudhi presented a poem.
Sneh, you said before you presented your poem you were trying to figure out how to live without your mother after her passing. Do you think writing that piece helped you do that?
When I wrote this poetry, I was in a really dark place. But I wrote this to motivate myself. The day I wrote this, I was feeling so alone, because my mom was basically my whole life. And she was not there, and I felt so lonely. I was sitting outside, and autumn leaves were falling down, and I felt sad, so I wrote this.
Emilio Rockwell presented poems.
Emilio, you said in one line, “Sitting near me could satisfy their need for intimacy.” Looking back on that now, was that even enough for you? Was that form of intimacy what you needed?
At that time, no form of intimacy was something I wanted or knew how to accept. So, it was the form that I could tolerate.
How did you pull yourself out of that?
A lot of therapy and learning how to fall in love with the person I wanted to build my life with. Learning how to set myself aside and focus on the person that I wanted to show love to and learning how to romance her on the daily. Not taking her for granted or thinking of her as just a partner. I was good at doing the partner thing: come home, pay the bills, do the chores. But it was when I actually took the time to romance her every day — sing to her, play music for her, cook for her, hike with her, just building a life with her where it was centered on growing something together — that was when I learned to appreciate the intimacy.
Yeah, I thought that line was very powerful. The imagery of sitting next to someone as a deep form of intimacy.
Mak Johnson presented part of a novel.
Mak, before you presented your novel, you said, “I’m probably never going to finish it.” Why?
Well, it’s been on my shelf for a while now just on the back burner. I’ve had so many projects since then. And I don’t know about you guys, but when I get a new idea, and I pursue the new idea, I would like to finish it, but it’s just a matter of time. I told myself Christmas break I’ll return to something, and I’ve got so many other projects. But maybe I’ll keep procrastinating it.
Yeah, I think you should finish it. That’s something that I struggle with too! It’s like when are we ever going to find the time to finish this project, but I feel like follow-through is important.
Ashley White presented flash fiction.
Your flash fiction revolved around a baby bird. What do you think your story gained by having the bird be a baby as opposed to a full-grown bird?
When I finally finished the story, I just started bawling crying, and I was trying to dig into why I wrote this story around a baby bird. There were thought processes of is this about a miscarriage that I don’t know about. Is this a conversation on the weak and being unable to help something so delicate. I feel like the reason I chose a baby bird rather than an adult is there is this lack of maturing and growing. It is something that has yet to become what it is supposed to be. I thought that was more impactful compared to a bird that could fly and has more of a fight against the cat.
Meredith Binkley sang a song she wrote.
Meredith!!! I loved it! It was so good! Did you ever get to perform it for the person you wrote it for?
This is very sad; I did not get to sing it for her. She has still not heard it. I wrote it two years ago, and the feeling never truly went away, you know, songwriters' stuff. It was really funny though, when I started writing it, my intention was to write it poorly so that I wouldn’t want to show it to her. When I write something, I always want to show it to my friends. It wasn’t only that I didn’t want to show it to her, but I also didn’t want to show it to anyone who also knew her, and then would figure out that was my crush. And as I was writing it, I realized it was kind of good.
No, it’s amazing!
Thank you. I guess I just wasn’t worried about it being good, and that’s what made is accidentally good. That’s my favorite song I’ve ever written, so I guess getting out of my head about it was what made it accidentally good. But maybe someday, I’ll sing it for her.
Yeah, you should. You should also see if you can get it recorded! I loved it!
Matt Thomas presented a short story.
Matt, always doing crazy things. I think I asked you this last time, but where do you get this stuff from? Is everything this impactful on you?
I don’t know exactly what to say about where this came from. I’ve just been really trying to practice the set up and pay off. Recently, it has occurred to me that good drama and comedy are all about set up and payoff. That sounds super trite, but particularly suspense and horror setting up an expectation and then totally subverting it. So, setting up this relationship and possible breakup and then bam, tragedy hits out of nowhere. Then immediately using that to set up another subversion of comedy. Basically, it starts with one germ of, “Oh, wouldn’t this be fucked up.” And then working back and forth to subvert it.
Gabriella Gorecki presented poetry.
You said when you came up that you wrote this in a really dark place.
Yeah, I realized I was being a bit vague. I wrote this about two years ago when I was going through depression. I had some really impactful events happen.
Yeah, so I was wondering, what is it like looking back on that now? And does it still resonate with you the same way?
Oh definitely, I wrote that poem a year after the event actually happened. I even went back and fixed it, and this is the finished piece. I have two other poems that follow the same story. It all follows the story of the victim and then becoming a survivor, and then realizing who you become after a pretty traumatic event.
Gwyn Eve shared poetry.
Gwyn, one line that really stuck out to me was, “The poem always outlasts the muse.” I wanted to see if you really believe that.
I think it does. I think the sentiment you can have for something can stay there if you decide to document it even after the meaning if kind of gone. I’ve definitely had moments like that. When I write poetry, it’s almost like a diary to me. So, I can look back at it and look through this little window and see who I was in those feelings.
The thought of looking back on this moment and reading what you wrote and being able to connect to it is so interesting.
I guess I shouldn’t say my poetry is like a diary because that isn’t entirely accurate. I sort of use the structure of poetry to understand how I feel in that moment. It’s not like a diary in the sense of documenting, but it gives me a way to compose my feelings through art.
Daniel Williams presented poetry.
Your poetry revolved around your disappointment with humanity and what we do to this world. Is that something you are really passionate about, and if so, have you done other work on that?
Yeah, I think my disappointment in humanity is a driving factor in a lot of the creative work I do. I did share a poem in a collection at the writing center called Off Center. It was very much fueled by my anxiety about nuclear weaponry. The fact that it exists. I think if I can, either through my poetry or through my fiction, I’m hoping I can inspire others to look for a better future for us.
Jacob Moore shared a short story.
Your piece did not go in the direction I thought it was going. It took a really sharp turn, and I’m wondering what you gain as a writer through that sharp turn.
I will be honest, that was the first time I had written a short story in probably over a decade. So, I got this idea about two weeks ago from inspiration from Jeff Zentner. I realized phobias exist, and someone could be walking down over a metal cover outside, and something could grab you suddenly. So, I was like, “Okay, this is how he is going to get got.” I had to figure out what's going to happen before he gets to this point. So, I made him a boring, boring businessman. Then he gets grabbed, and everything goes down the toilet.
Gloria Newton shared a piece of a novel.
Gloria, you said this was set in a mythical world you created, but you are talking about the real world we live in. What do you gain from taking our world and putting it in a mythical setting?
The inspiration for this story came from me driving down the highway, and I saw this very dryad-looking tree draped over a telephone pole. That imagery was so interesting to me and I thought, What would it look like if they were meshed together? And I was just going to follow that setting. So, I think that world chose me more than I chose to put them together. It’s also going into stuff like our environment. I know I could do that if it was all a fantasy setting, but something about putting them together made it work better. I’m nowhere near done with it, so I’m not sure where I’m going with it, but it just felt right.
Micaela Anderson shared poetry.
You said you were not done with this poem. What are your steps to editing poetry?
I’m going to go through and line edit to make sure it’s not too wordy. I think some parts could be a little bit clearer and more sensual in the sense of sensory description. I really want to capture the snow.
Do you feel like when you edit it’s a reformation of the poem?
So, people form sculptures out of a piece of marble, and your first draft of the poem if just the junks of it. But then you go through more and more and the shape starts to fully form. I also think there is a lot to be said about the actual format of the poem. So, I’ll go in and line edit, but I’m also reformatting. There is something about the aesthetic perception on a page that really brings a poem to life.
Jill Hunt presented a poem.
I noticed in the first few lines, it seemed to be from a female perspective, and I was wondering if you could talk about that for a little bit.
I guess it was technically female perspective because it was inspired by another female poet. I was trying to think about, not worse case seneryo things happening to me, but just annoyances. Just digging into things that leave you mad at the end of the day. So, it was a little inspired by me. The first line was inspired by me. But the rest of it took a different turn. I guess it is inspired by female issues.
Tristan Ruddy shared a piece of flash fiction.
You had a personified vulture in your story, and I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about.
When I wrote this, I didn’t have much in mind. I idea just sort of came to me. One night I started writing it without any idea where it would go. As the story moves along, the bird kind of becomes a messenger of death. He is also a western protagonist of the outsider who is rejected because he doesn’t fit in with the other birds. So, he’s not bird and he’s not human, so he is something completely of himself.
I also thought it was cool that you used a vulture as opposed to a raven. Typically, ravens are the symbol for death.
A vulture is plays into the western setting a little bit more.
Ashley Barrientos shared a piece of flash fiction.
I loved your piece about body hair. It is ridiculous the standards society places on women's bodies. Are you also coming from that place of frustration with female standards?
Yeah, so that piece is part of a larger work that speaks to my experience as a woman of color. Especially in predominately white settings, that is something I have been inspired to write about recently. As a senior, I have had a lot of experiences with that since I started going to school. That theme is always something I have wanted to write about, and it does greatly distress me. A lot of myself is in that piece as a whole. Having to live up to beauty standards can be really exhausting.
In one line you said, “My body has never been mine, and I intend to keep it that way.” Can you explain that?
That line sort of just came to me, and it was a good place to end. That scene is the beginning scene of this fiction. But yeah, I really liked the way the words were arranged. It was more of a technical thing that drew me to write that line. I liked the word “body” a lot, and the act of shaving and how shaving to appease a greater audience can feel so mechanical and clinical. You do it over and over again, and it feels like there is some sort of disconnect. Almost like you are watching yourself do it over and over. You do it so often that it becomes a comfort that your body isn’t yours. It’s a good feeling sometimes when you are so engrained into that mindset, which is a negative thing.
Morgan Jones presented poetry.
Morgan, I zoned out a little bit while you were presenting because I knew I was about to have to get up here and present what I had. Since this is a presentation, could you talk about begin put on the spot and the anxiety that comes along with presenting?
I danced for fifteen years, so I know how to hide it well. But I do get anxious, and it was kind of a balancing act trying to decide if I wanted to do this. I felt like people may want to go home, and now it's like, how much of that was me just putting myself down and not giving myself a chance. So, I was like, fine, I’ll go up and I’ll do my best.
I thank everyone who had the courage, motivation, and energy to participate in the In Process Open Mic event.
We hope to see everyone at our two Open Mic events in the Spring semester hosted by Dr. Fred Arroyo.
“The Afterthought” is a weekly column by In Process Intern Lillian Reid.
Many thanks to Dr. Leah Lyons, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, for sending a photographer to In Process!
