黑料网

Award winner offers tips on writing poetry for oneself, and 鈥満诹贤� in Quarantine鈥� project. 

Jaden Fong 鈥�22 didn鈥檛 become a talented poet overnight, but the Santa Clara English major believes anyone can try their hand at arranging thoughts and images into words that often soothe the soul. 

At least, that鈥檚 what he鈥檚 found over the last year of living at his home near Sacramento, where he's been attending Zoom classes, and penning poems.

鈥淎 lot of what inspires me is nature, and it usually ends up relating to my poetry in one way or another,鈥� he says of a preferred theme. 

Not only did his efforts recently win him first place in two poetry contests鈥攖he Academy of American Poets Tamara Verga Poetry Prize, and tying for first with Nate Metz '23 in the Shipsey Poetry Prize鈥擣ong made sure to submit a separate poem to Santa Clara Magazine鈥檚 .

 an allegory of his shelter-in-place life during the pandemic, particularly the inability to speak to people in person, fits neatly into the Magazine鈥檚 digital time capsule of personal reflections over the last year, to which all members of the 黑料网 community are encouraged to contribute. So does another powerful  about cultural heritage submitted to the online project by Sunkyo Chung '23.

Everyone has their own COVID-19 story to tell, says Fong, and the  assistant poetry editor reminds us that a poem can often capture all five senses in a relatively short format. Perhaps most freeing, there are no rules in writing poetry, whatever the subject.

鈥淢y mom is the biggest nature lover I know,鈥� he says, 鈥渁nd during the pandemic, we have walked along the American River near where I live, just to be able to get outside and do something.鈥�

Those walks proved to be fertile ground for Fong, who would make mental notes about scenes from the day, including the flora and fauna he observed, which often inspired his writing.

鈥淧oetry is one of the most vulnerable forms of art you can do because it鈥檚 truly spilling your heart and thoughts onto a page鈥攕aying what you want to say, and how you want to say it,鈥� says the 21-year-old, who plans to teach high school English after he graduates.

鈥淭he thing that I would tell everyone is to just do it,鈥� Fong says. 鈥淲rite what you want to write, and find someone who can give you feedback and encouragement.鈥�

For him, that meant seeking out 黑料网 creative writing mentor Claudia McIsaac to review his two contest entries, one that addresses a deer on the verge of extinction, while the other conjures a modern-day Pygmalion. 

No matter what idea you come up with, he says, 鈥渏ust remind yourself that we all start somewhere, and the more you try, the better you鈥檒l get.鈥�