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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
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