Jacob Calvert is a mass communication student at Sam in his junior year.
He writes poetry, on his phone, sheets of paper, whenever inspiration strikes Calvert is ready to hop off of his longboard and catalogue his thoughts in a poetic format.
He’s been doing it for a handful of years now, and getting better as he goes.
“Basically how I got started was just simple writing in high school, putting words on a page. They might have even started out as rap lyrics, but have subsequently shifted into a more poetic view as my life has also shifted,” said Calvert.
Since high school the biggest influence has been the people around him.
“My process of growth is heavily influenced by my experience in college. I have met a lot of people I feel that are as close to my heart as family, and I believe those experiences and people have helped me unlock the potential to create something as artistic as poetry,” said Calvert.
Calvert views art in the largest sense, as something that is present and waiting to be appreciated.
“The beautiful thing about art is that it is all around you, food is art, paintings are art, words can be art. If it’s something that moves you and gives you goosebumps that’s what art is,” said Calvert.
As for Calvert, he uses poetry as his medium of choice.
“What sets poetry apart to me is that it’s a story compressed into a paragraph. It’s a books worth of motifs and symbolism in one little piece, and fleshing it out to have a story behind it,” said Calvert.
Poetry also allows Calvert to get people’s attention with flair and style.
“For a lot of people, to truly listen you have to impress them first,” said Calvert.
When it comes to actually writing, Calvert has a loose but structured process.
“Like every single artist I have to wait for that burst of information, I never know when it will hit but when it does I have to be ready. When it does I’ll pick up a pen or my phone and start writing, and I can’t stop until I get it done. I have hundreds of half-finished poems, but it’s about getting all my thoughts out and sometimes that results in a finished poem,” said Calvert.
Calvert believes that anyone can create, and it’s as simple as finding a way to create that’s right for you.
“It’s as simple as finding your medium, whether that’s poetry, songwriting, creative writing, painting, anything that you can create can be a tool to express yourself,” said Calvert.
Calvert believes that his friends help him when it comes to creating art and poetry.
“I think my friend group helped me open up and become creative. There are two types of people, introverts and extroverts, and knowing which kind can help you find out how to be creative. Introverts have one or two people, maybe its themselves, maybe it’s a made up person, but that person can help, motivate them to be creative and expressive. For me and other extroverts those friends and people around us are what we feed on.” Calvert said.
The most important part, Calvert said, to creating authentic art is to be comfortable with the process.
“It’s important to be comfortable with yourself, love yourself, before you learn to create effectively. Once you do that you can take inspirations from everyone and everything around you to create things.”