By Cameron Castelli, Contributing Writer
Words move the soul in ways that can move a nation.
Famous poets like Robert Frost and Edgar Allen Poe were taught in schools for their beautiful way with words. Writers with this same tantalizing ability are walking around the Saint Leo University campus today.
Alyssa Dufort, a freshman majoring in clinical/counseling psychology, holds a talent for this skilled art. She has been writing poetry since eighth grade.
“Poetry makes me feel like I don’t have limitations and barriers. I can take myself and my readers to another world. Sometimes I take a while to start writing, though once I do, I’m flying,” said Dufort.
When writing her poems, she loves to experiment with the styles and themes.
“The most common themes I use are fantasy or dramatic, history inspired, and dwellings on personal experiences.”
Dufort stated that she sees poems like a puzzle, trying to find the right words that fit in with the style she has selected.
Dufort uses poetry as a soothing mechanism, expressing the words through intricate writing that she could not easily communicate otherwise.
“I am on the spectrum, and it is hard to communicate sometimes, but for some miraculous reason, when I try to express myself with a pattern or rhyme, it’s easier,” said Dufort.
Poetry has a particular beauty in its diverse styles and how one object can be written a hundred different ways. But this writing style does not come easily for everyone.
Dufort offers the advice that if you want to start writing poetry for yourself, you simply need to pay attention to the details in life and observe.
For example, take watching people walk by or a leaf fall to the ground, and internalize it.
“Think about what these things could mean; think of what you want these things to mean,” said Dufort. “Know what senses you respond best to emotionally. Some remember their best or worst moments visually; some, including myself, respond to sound.”
Words hold such a heavy impact, and the great poets of today can inspire the generations of tomorrow. Dufort concludes with one final bit of advice to upcoming poets who long to change the world and share their words: “You can find inspiration from anything, anywhere.”
