“It makes me very nervous, but I have improved vastly at sharing my work over the last year.”
In her latest video, avid writer, reader and bookTuber Rosianna Halse Rojas reads us a poem in a refreshing mini-upload that is the perfect soothing two-minute escape we all need right now.
As an undoubtedly unusual spring arrives, so does another Escapril – the 30-day poetry project founded by Savannah Brown. The opportunity to escape reality through writing poetry every day seems more appealing than ever at this point in 2020, and writers have once again proved themselves up to the challenge, with many sharing their interpretations of each daily prompt using the hashtags #Escapril and #Escapril2020.
As she explains at the beginning of the video, Rosianna is one of those writers. She’s been posting photos of her handwritten poetry every day on Instagram, usually sunlit and always framed beautifully in a very aesthetically pleasing way. Firstly, diving into what Escapril is, she talks about how she’s been using the prompts in both her poetry and “other personal fictional writing”, emphasising how you can use Escapril’s prompts as inspiration to “make whatever you like”. She then talks about how nerve-racking sharing your work can be, admitting that it makes her “very nervous”. We’re very glad she decided to share one of her poems with us!
Rosianna goes on to read her response to the prompt, growth/decay, a sweet light-hearted poem that uses the metaphor of tooth decay and the setting of a scary dentist visit to explore themes of pessimism vs. optimism. (We knew those English GCSEs would come in handy one day!) There’s always something about being read to that’s guaranteed to calm you down and Rosianna reads beautifully, allowing the informal and cheerful voice that permeates through the poem to shine through and ending it on a high note with a bright smile – “I had popcorn for dinner”.
Rosianna ends the video by saying she’ll continue to share her writing over the course of Escapril, admitting it was “fun to do” and she “didn’t feel as nervous” as normal. Finally, she shows us the roses she bought to “keep her company”, adding that they’re “blooming beautifully” and inspiring us to treat ourselves to some flowers too!
We think it’s very inspiring to put your poetry out there, especially amongst all the uncertainty of COVID-19. Something as short and sweet as Rosianna’s poetry reading can help us all stay connected with each other and feel a little more human. We thank her for sharing it with us and hope it inspires more people to have a go at writing and posting their own contributions to Escapril!
Want More?
Jack Howard recently gave us his best movies to watch during self-isolation. Alternatively, you could read about how Hank Green is dealing with the sudden obliteration of expectation.
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