POETRY CORNER: Student focuses on simple things in her poetry

Carrie Anne White loves to write poetry.  Even so, she has not had much time to participate in this April’s National Poetry Month celebration.

Early in the month, White was busy performing in Cannon School’s stage production of “Little Shop of Horrors.” The remainder of the month has been spent celebrating her final few weeks as a high school senior.

After spending 10 years at Cannon, White is ready for the change – and the challenge -- that will come with going off to college in the fall.  She will attend Colorado College and plans to study psychology and creative writing.

For now, though, she is content to focus on the little things in life.

“I've noticed that we remember small bursts of life rather than entire days,” White said. “The more variety we put into our day, the more bursts of life we will be able to savor on a nostalgic afternoon later in life. I've been trying to keep this in mind as I push through these final days in high school.”

One way that White savors these “small bursts” is by writing poetry. In fact, she relies pretty heavily on poetry to help her understand the world around her.

“Poetry is the organized chaos we need in order to make sense of the generalizations and logical perspective that we have to have in business aspects of life,” White says. “Poetry is the hard-edged, fun, raw, emotional, aesthetic, and melodic side of writing -- and an outlet for disorganized expression. Without it, I know I'd have a hard time making sense of things.”

White’s appreciation for poetry can be traced to her earliest days at Cannon School.

“I read rhyming children's books as a kid, and wrote my first ‘book’ of poems in the third grade,” she said. “Before I learned how to write, I made up and memorized lyrics to my own songs, so I imagine this fed into my need to write poetry.”

She’s been reading and writing poetry ever since. While her interests and inspirations have changed over the years, the challenge and thrill of writing and sharing poetry has remained a constant in her life. 

“I love short poems, partially because others will be more likely to read them, but mostly because they're challenging,” White said. “It's difficult to sum up the ideas within a poem in just 10 to 14 lines.”

White also notices that her poetry has changed over the years.

“I have always written in a sharp, almost cold way,” she said. “My writing style has evolved to have a taste for dark edginess, unusual wording, and the occasional rhyme.”

While her own writing has taken on a darker tone, White admits she still enjoys the lighthearted poetry of her childhood as well.  “I have a soft spot for Shel Silverstein,” she said. “I've passed that on to my baby sister; I buy her a Silverstein book every year and read to her from it.”

As a high school student, White can sometimes find a moment or two to write during the day – but mostly she writes at night. When possible, she enjoys writing by an open window. New things, she finds, motivate her to write.

“I'm most inspired by novelty in any form: new people, new tragedies, new perspectives, new challenges, and new places,” she said. “Anything that strikes me as unfamiliar is fuel for poetry. It's how I decode the unknown.”

White takes writing seriously and has committed parts of her summers to improving her craft.

“The most inspiring place I've ever written at was at Bard College at Simon's Rock in Massachusetts, where I spent three weeks dedicated to learning and practicing writing,” White said. “I had the opportunity to write outside with my elbows in the grass on a hillside with nearly 80 other young writers. It was a really enriching experience to write in the presence of other students who are as passionate as I am about writing.”

As her high school career winds down, White is looking forward to the next phase of her educational journey. And thanks, in part, to her poetry, she has learned to appreciate the important moments in life.

“I'm realizing that I won't remember the thousands of facts I've put on flashcards,” White said. “But I'll remember the spontaneous afternoons I spent with friends or family trying new things apart from my routine.”

Bill Diskin is director of admission and financial aid at Cannon School in Concord. He can be reached at wdiskin@cannonschool.org.