I sat down with Paige Swanson (senior, English) to talk about her writing.
What got you interested in writing?
I had one teacher my junior year of high school, an English teacher, and she had us focus on different genres of writing. I hadn’t ever really written poetry before, but when I had to for school, I found out that I enjoyed it. I didn’t really pick it up again much, I just kind of wrote on and off for the next couple of years and then got into it again sophomore year of college.
Who are you inspired by?
The people in the Scriptorium are great; they are all incredible writers and I love how it’s just a little community where you can share and exchange ideas and help each other along.
What do you enjoy most about writing poetry?
I think when a piece is really well written it can convey a lot of emotion through the things that are said and the things that aren't. It's also a way for people to connect with each other without actually talking to each other face-to-face. I mean if you think about the classics, those are from a thousand years ago and we're still reading them today and still hearing their voices and I think that's a really cool thing.
What is your favorite style of writing or what do you gravitate towards?
The narrative poetry style is what I enjoy, and I love pulling from the Greek myths for inspiration. When I am doing poetry, if I want to make a piece longer I typically pull from the myths. If I am just writing to get my thoughts out it's usually free form, I don’t do much of the rhyming aspect. So when I write short stories, I do creative nonfiction, where you talk about things you’ve learned through the years and compare now from then.
Tell me about your favorite piece you’ve chosen to feature.
It is one of the Greek myth pieces I’ve written. It's the one about Icarus where his father makes the waxed wings and he tells him not to fly too high because the sun melts the wax that holds it together and you’ll fall, and not fly too close to the sea because the water will make it too brittle. But Icharus, being a young man, became too excited about being able to fly, wanting to escape the prison he was being held in, so he flew too close to the sun and fell to his death. I don’t know why I am so drawn to that story, but when I was writing my poem I wanted to capture his thoughts as he was falling and saying goodbye to everything.
Freefall – Paige J. Swanson
Falling.
I’m falling,
the sky streaming by ever so slowly,
and yet so fast.
I have all the time in the world before my ravaged body hits the waves,
and yet I have no time at all.
What can I do?
What can anyone do?
My father made these wings of feathers and wax;
gifted them to me so I could fly and be free from the clutches of King Minos and his
shame.
He gave them to me accompanied by a warning:
“Don’t fly too close to the sun,
my son.
If you do, my son,
your wings will break,
as will your body as it crashes into the unforgiving sea that you love so dearly.”
I didn’t listen,
as should have been expected.
I fell in love with the beauty of flight as soon as my feet left the earth,
as should have been expected.
I craved more.
The wind in my hair wasn’t enough.
The sea just beneath me -
just within reach of my outstretched fingertips -
wasn’t enough.
The crisp, salty air;
the birds all around me;
the smell of freedom -
none of it was enough.
The sun on my back,
so pleasant and warm after the years in that dungeon,
drew my attention,
and thus came my fatal mistake.
I heeded the voice that told me to fly higher,
for I wished to touch the sun,
the source of this newfound pleasure and life.
Higher I flew,
ignoring the shouts of my father,
who dared not leave the safety of the lower sky.
Higher still I flew,
ignoring the calls of the birds far beneath me,
as all creation cried out to me,
trying to warn me of my inevitable end.
The sun burned my wings,
just as predicted.
So now,
I fall,
just
as
predicted.
I sense the water coming near,
reaching up to embrace me and claim me as its own.
Looking up at the infinitely glorious sky,
I say goodbye to it all.
To the sun,
who continues providing light in blazing majesty.
To the birds,
who continue to soar so high above me.
And to my father,
my beloved father,
who sheds tears of desperation
as they all watch me fall.
I whisper one last goodbye to everything,
and welcome the inescapable darkness.
What kind of impact would you want your personal writing to have?
I’m not sure actually. When I write about moments like Icarus, I really just want to bring that story to life, instead of people just reading it from the anthologies where they are like “this happened, then this happened.” I really want to bring the characters to life and help people see them and focus on the visual aspect of the story.
Where can we experience more of your writing?
I usually just share my writing at Scriptorium events; I would love to find a platform to get my writings out at some point though. But you can find out when Scriptorium events happen through their Instagram @au.scriptorium.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.