This week, we caught up with sophomore Estevan Samayoa to learn about the process of writing during quarantine and the diverse possibilities of poetry as a form.
First off, tell us about yourself! Where are you from? What year are you at Emory? What are you studying? What kind of art do you make?
I was born and raised in Ventura, California. I’m in my second year at Emory, and I’m studying creative writing and sociology. My art is mostly poetry, although I also enjoy writing fiction as well, usually in the form of short plays or scenes.
When did you start writing poetry? What drew you to the lyrical tradition?
Technically, I started writing poetry in eighth grade for an English assignment, although looking back, I seriously did not know what I was doing; if I were to say when I actually had a grasp of what I was writing, it would be senior year of high school. I was attracted to the lyrical aspects of poetry largely because, although I was not always an avid reader of poetry, I have always loved music for the lyrics, and musicians were the poets I constantly indulged in. Once I began writing poetry, lyricism was just an aspect of my poems that always arose, even when I didn’t intend it to.
What do you love most about writing poetry?
I really love the diversity that poetry offers to writers, because it can be comedic or intimate or daunting, or everything all at once. I also love that it allows writers to be very sparse and precise with their words because I hardly ever talk since I don’t have shit to say.
Who or what inspires you?
A lot of my poetry is inspired by the natural world, particularly in how I relate to it, and also my relationship to people who are close in my life. Being from California, I have this growing sense of urgency about nature and the looming demise that threatens to irreparably consume or change it.
How has COVID-19 impacted your creative process, if at all?
COVID started in the middle of my intro to poetry class, so in a kind of funny way, I’ve written more poetry stuck in the confines of my house than I have outside of it, and this is reflected in my poetry, because a lot of it aims to be very intimate and immediate with the reader, or the ideas it presents. I noticed in particular in “Moonlight Moorings” that this ever-expanding imagination I use partially stems from a desire to imagine a place free from my house, to escape the confinement that home has become.
What are your goals for your poetry? What message do you hope to convey?
My goals for my poetry are to convey a deeper understanding of humanity, and the many contradictions that humans are prone to, as well as explore how humans relate to one another and to our environment. Though I haven’t formed a concrete voice for my poetry yet, I know that I have a lot of emotions about a lot of things, and I’m discovering ways to communicate those emotions effectively.
How do you stay involved in creative writing as a student at Emory?
As far as involvement in Emory’s creative writing landscape, apart from taking creative writing classes and engaging with my peers about tools and concepts in creative writing, I’m not all that involved. I explored some literary magazines, like Alloy, but once COVID started, everything kind of blew up in my face, and I’m really not trying to spend more time on a screen than I already have to for class and homework. Once we return this fall, I look forward to being able to actually engage in the community more and explore other writers' work at Emory on a grander scale.
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