CASC students have a way with words
In honor of National Poetry Month, Carl Albert State College recently had a poetry contest and celebration. Students were encouraged to submit original poems which were reviewed by faculty of the Fine Arts and Communications Division and narrowed down to the top six submissions.
These six poems were then ranked by Quraysh Ali Lansana, an American poet, book editor, civil rights historian and professor. An Enid native, Lansana pursued his Masters in Fine Arts from New York University and served as a faculty member of the drama division of The Julliard School in New York City and the School of Art Institute in Chicago. He has written 20 books of poetry, nonfiction and children’s literature and served as editor for a number of anthologies in addition to being a recipient of the 1999 Henry Blakely Award, the Chicago Black Book Fair’s 2000 Poet of the Year and a 2012 NAACP Image Award nominee.
Lansana currently serves as a Tulsa Artist Fellow, a member of the Board of Directors of the Philbrook Museum of Arts, a Curatorial Scholar for The Thomas Gilcrease Institute of American History and Art and Director of the Center for Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation at Oklahoma State University-Tulsa, where he also is lecturer in Africana Studies and English.
Lansana met with students and their friends and families on April 20 to celebrate their new status as published poets. He shared about his own writing journey and encouraged them to continue expressing themselves through writing.
The celebration concluded with the announcement of the top six poems. Juan Antonio Mendieta won first place with his poem entitled “Dear Karen.”
Second place went to Timothy Gillham, author of “A Poem of Passing,” and third place was claimed by Saedren Warford with his poem “Simple Pleasures.”
Honorable mention recognition was given to Kaitlyn Owens and Rey Rudder.
This year’s poems have been compiled in “The Runestones Anthology” entitled “Simple Pleasures.” The anthology features 36 poems written by 25 CASC students. Copies are available to the public in the Joe E. White Library on the CASCPoteau campus.