Writing this blog over the course of the semester has really allowed me to think about poetry and enjoy it in a way that I haven’t for a while. My time studying computer science has been great and enlightening in so many ways, but it lacks in literary analysis. Revisiting my passion for literature and for poetry has reminded me of the ways I can tie this love back to the other things I love to do. It’s given me the opportunity and motivation to study English again in some capacity and the wherewithal to continue past the end of this course. I don’t know if I’ll continue this blog, but I’m certain that I will continue reading and writing with new vigor and that the focus on sharing my work and the subject it belongs to will shine through in the ways I continue to pursue poetry and any of my other interests.

I already know now that my final project for this semester, my poetry bot, is only the preliminary version of something (or maybe many things) bigger than I can make in the time I have. The mechanics I develop for this project, I’m already planning on applying to other things (rap-battling twitter bots, for one!) and I know for certain that I want to spend more time on the idea of computer generated poetry and other art, and maybe even pursue this idea in a graduate degree or an interdisciplinary lab. It’s what I’m passionate about, and I’m grateful for the push to use this space for my thoughts to find connections and ways to manifest in new projects and ideas.

Moreover, I’m going to concentrate further on my own poetry. I think I’ve mentioned before that I’m writing a book, and I’ve been chugging along working at finding ways to connect to more people and make one topic understandable through words I’m still struggling to find, but I also want to branch out into other forms and subjects. I want to explore more narrative poetry and try my hand at some spoken word pieces. I’d like to write more prose (or even prose poetry). Most of all, I want to work hard to find different subjects to write about and to more easily discover muse when I feel like writing. For much of the past few years, I’ve written as I find things to write on, but I really want to work on letting my desire to write drive the subjects I approach.

On a truly final note, I really want to point out for artistically-inclined Fort Collins folks like me, that CSU’s own undergraduate literary magazine, the Greyrock Review will be accepting submissions from all majors through December 3rd. I plan to submit some of my work, and I hope some of you find your way to the submission page with your own prose, poetry, or artwork, or simply pick up the magazine when it comes out next semester, and take the time to enjoy the work of your peers.

In this blog, I set out to invite others to join me in appreciating poetry specifically, but I approached this and will continue approaching this goal in the interests of broadening the fields of all arts and literature. The arts (which are not so confined as some might think) complete every thing that humanity creates. Engage in them, contribute to them, because I guarantee that you have something to contribute and that you can better yourself by engaging.