The Power of Poetry as Expression

As a lifelong writer and lover of the literary arts, Siobahn Hotaling received her bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing, with a concentration in Poetry, from renowned liberal arts school Skidmore College. She continued to write recreationally, moving from poetry to songwriting and back again, and in 2017 she returned to Skidmore College to attend their Summer Writer’s Institute.

This exclusive program, featuring many famous poets and writers from around the country, requires applicants to submit writing samples of their chosen area of concentration. Siobahn Hotaling was accepted into the advanced poetry master class with award-winning poet Henri Cole, where the participants workshopped new poems and learned new techniques of expression.

Poetry is considered to be one of the greatest ways to express oneself in writing. Perhaps this is because there are no constraints or rules; the writer can craft words and sentences in any way that they feel is beneficial to get their point across. Poetry is also considered to be so powerful because it often utilizes the tool of ambiguity. Ambiguity is when the description is vague enough to allow the reader to use their own imaginations, and indeed to personalize the event or emotion being conveyed. Ambiguity is what allows us to try on and feel what we are reading. Siobahn Hotaling loves to write and read poetry that capitalizes on not only the power of words, but also the power that the ambiguity of those words can hold. The best poets are those that can use language to describe something that we can then feel deeply.