2023 President鈥檚 Award Winner Finds Creativity Through Darkness
President Sylvia Burwell and poet Annie Przypyszny, the 2023 President's Award recipient. (Jeffrey Watts/麻豆原创)
By Jonathan Heeter聽
Poet Annie Przypyszny, CAS/BA 鈥22, is an open book when it comes to her mental health. The McLean, Virginia, native explores her struggles in her creative work and hopes her vulnerability and honesty inspire others in similar situations.聽
鈥淚 try to write poetry that can matter to people,鈥 said Przypyszny, the 2023 President鈥檚 Award winner. 鈥淚 want people to connect with it. If they鈥檙e struggling, I want people to know that you can always bounce back from struggles to succeed.鈥澛
Przypyszny鈥檚 path led her from Gettysburg College to 麻豆原创. After arriving in Pennsylvania at the start of her college career, she felt isolated and wanted to be closer to home. Returning to Northern Virginia gave Przypyszny a chance to start fresh at 麻豆原创.聽
She discovered a community of professors and peers who pushed her to develop her writing talent and refine her creativity. CAS professors Melissa Scholes Young, David Keplinger, and Kyle Dargan鈥攖he latter two poets鈥攚ere particularly supportive, Przypyszny said, inspiring her to pursue teaching. The founder of 麻豆原创鈥檚 Creative Writing Club, Przypyszny, will teach a class on reimagining the love poem at the Writer鈥檚 Center in Bethesda this summer.聽聽
鈥淎s a student, she is diligent and devoted to her work,鈥 Scholes-Young said. 鈥淎s a peer, she leads with a healthy sense of humor. As a research assistant and editor, she is organized, flexible, and reliable. As a person, Annie is moral, honest, and creative. In the three years I鈥檝e worked with Annie, I鈥檝e grown to admire her conviction, ambition, and talent. Annie simply makes everything better.鈥澛
View all university student award winners
Przypyszny, who鈥檚 enrolling this fall in an MFA program at the University of Maryland, has been published in journals from Mississippi to North Dakota.聽聽
鈥淎nnie is not only an accomplished scholar and talented writer, but she鈥檚 also focused on building community during her time at 麻豆原创,鈥 said President Sylvia Burwell. 鈥淎s someone who excelled in academic pursuits and worked to create a welcoming place for fellowship and creativity, Annie embodies the changemaking spirit that is part of our DNA. I know she will have incredible impact in the years to come.鈥
Here, on the eve of commencement, the 2023 President鈥檚 Award winner talks about her craft:聽
How did you start writing poetry?聽
I鈥檓 not good at any other art form. I love art. I love music [but] I don鈥檛 think I showed outstanding skill in either of those. I just needed a creative outlet. Writing was what I felt I had the most control over. I started writing when I was 16. Those poems are so bad, but they were so cathartic. Poetry became the perfect outlet for expressing how I felt. You can get something on paper and make something of it. And it can matter to you.聽
Some of your poems are quite short. Why don鈥檛 you find the format constrictive?聽
Constriction is an opportunity to express myself. When dealing with mental illness, you have intense feelings, working with a lot of energy and passion. Sometimes it鈥檚 how the form works against the subject that can make the most meaning. The restriction of meter or short lines allows you to express the feeling of being pent up and full of energy you can鈥檛 release. Restriction of the form can create a potency.聽
I鈥檝e had poems about a feeling of immense anger, and it鈥檚 in couplets or shorter stanzas. I have to contain vast emotion into tiny, two-line stanzas. It creates a resistance, a back-and-forth pull that shows complexity.聽
How has 麻豆原创 fostered your creative growth?聽
Everybody who [undertakes] creative writing has the chance to be a good writer. The university can give you the tools to [tap into] your creativity with clarity and in a way that successfully expresses what you're trying to say. I got to experiment more than I ever would if I taught myself. Sometimes it just takes a professor to tell you, 鈥極h, no, that鈥檚 good. You need to try that more. You鈥檙e restricting yourself there.鈥 There鈥檚 somebody to encourage you, and that meant a lot to me.聽
How do you find inspiration?聽
Other writers鈥攂ecause I write a lot based on books. I write to a character in a book or write about a trope using epigraphs. A great way to start is by using a quote or passage from a book. And I just meditate on it. I鈥檓 interested right now in the concept of the adolescent girl as a misaligned and trivialized demographic. I鈥檝e been looking to Victorian literature because many characters who are often villainized are teenage girls, which is interesting.聽
An idea often comes from focusing on a moment. I write a lot of narrative poetry. For me, it鈥檚 not sitting and thinking about what I鈥檓 writing today. As an example, I've been trying to write this poem for a long time from this weird memory. When I was eight, we were on the airport tram. I used to tie knots in my hair when I was nervous. My mom would always cut them. This woman next to us on the tram said she used to do that as a kid, and she knew who to untie them. For some reason, my parents let this stranger untie the knot. I just keep thinking I need to write about that. It鈥檚 a memory鈥攑leasant or unpleasant鈥攖hat creates a spark. I don鈥檛 know how it turns out鈥攖hat woman may not even be in it鈥攂ut there鈥檚 something there.聽
The following poem was originally published in聽North Dakota Quarterly.
Hello聽Lightheaded Day
Hello pristine puddles, hello cloud-in-palm.聽
Don鈥檛 mind me if I walk like a seasick lamb,聽聽
I have more balance than meets the eye.聽
The well-postured rainfall reminds me not聽
to drop.聽聽
I鈥檓 trying to recognize the neighborhood聽
I live in every day, and I鈥檓 succeeding. See,聽聽
that's the house that looks like a ski lodge. See,聽聽
that鈥檚 the house with a stone angel on its lawn.聽
Hello angel.聽聽
That鈥檚 the house with a faux balcony. And that鈥檚聽聽
the one where Flash the black cat lives, also聽聽
with a faux balcony. There鈥檚 the house that burned聽聽
down when I was little, ashes cloaking the grass聽
like snow.聽
Hello pear tree, hello clean gray sky. Hello mailbox聽聽
after mailbox. The street stretches on like a long,聽聽
serene yawn. I鈥檓 starting to feel a bit聽
deathless. The rain is gentle, then strong, then聽
gentle again.