my indiana = your indiana = our indiana: a collection of poetry and prose reflecting life in the hoosier state

This collection of writings is a portion of a creative project to be completed by the author as an equivalent to the honors thesis required by Ball State University’s Honors College. My original objective in composing this series of works was to present the landscape of Indiana with poetry and prose in which the “landscape” of Indiana was to be presented as not only the natural scenery, but also a culmination of relationships and culture that exhibit the experience of life in Indiana. Thus, environment is discussed as a culmination of these exterior and interior landscapes.

What this project became, along with the exploration of the landscape, was a series of compositions reflecting instances in which Indiana is the prevailing setting—the reason for each poem’s existence itself. The state is the inspiration and the motivation.

This creative working experience gave me an idea of the conditions to which professional writers are exposed: lengthy periods of brainstorming, vigorous writing sessions, and pages of revisions. I was able to mingle with my creative self, push his buttons, dissect his emotions, and polish his thoughts, becoming familiar with my proficiencies and weaknesses as a writer.

Some of the pieces are autobiographical, in which memories and experiences play a large role. Others are simply observations I feel are representative of my home state, ideas and settings that describe unique qualities of the Hoosier state. “Lake Patoka,” “Morse Park and Beach,” “Grandfather’s House” and “Looking Backward Out of a Van on US 31” are direct results of interaction with the landscape, where both the interior and exterior play a part in describing the circumstances at hand. “Cutting through Cold,” “the fall out of summer,” and “The Threat of Flowers” are poems inspired by the Indiana seasons. “The Ghost of Elwood Haynes” is a prose piece that places an early twentieth century inventor and industrialist in the modern day, discussing matters of innovation and disintegration. “Cracked Driver’s Side Mirror” and “you” are romantic images necessary of any collection of poems, and “the earth good” is an anti-romantic, anti-Whitmanic poem that illustrates the domestic abuse that runs rampant in the state and the nation. Also included, along with my writing, are some selected writings by other members of the Virginia Ball Center Our Land, Our Literature seminar.

The design of “my indiana=your indiana=our indiana” is modeled after a diarama of planets, like those that fifth graders make in science classes. Each work is a world of its own, illustrating the unique qualities of its inspiration. The globes are dangling, waiting for your interaction.

Ryan Wilcox