‘The Moth’ wins best work at annual Crowder Cassville event

By Gwendylan Harmon Cassville Democrat Intern

Crowder College’s annual Poetry Day brought together students, faculty and guests for a celebration of creativity, expression and community. 

The event, in its second year, aimed to create a welcoming space where writers shared personal work and listeners gathered to appreciate the power of poetry. During the event, students delivered performances of poetry, eager to share their voices. 

In one moving moment, a female student read a poem written by another student from Neosho’s Crowder campus about missing a loved one at church. The reading of the poetry piece carried a deeply personal emotions, even when shared through someone else’s voice which moved the room. 

Other participants also took turns reading works by peers they had never met before, showing how poetry can connect people through shared interpretation.

One of the day’s standout moments came from student poetry winner Quin Roberts, whose piece, “The Moth,” explored the life of a moth from its cocoon to its final flight. Roberts shared that he worked on the poem “for about two weeks or so.”

Roberts also explained the deeper meaning behind the piece. 

“I wrote about ‘The Moth’ because I read that a moth only lives about a week,” he said. “Something about that struck me as enhancing the beauty of the moth, because it’s only here for a short time.” 

He connected that idea to people and life itself.

“I felt this was also true of people and their lives, and I wanted to write something about how the brevity of life adds to how special it is,” Roberts said.

Professor Terry Held, organizer of Poetry Day, noted “how powerful it is that poetry can bring people together through individual interpretations.”

Held ran the event and heavily encouraged attendees to be inspired by poetry and emphasized the importance of writing as a form of connection and self expression. 

Guests enjoyed snacks and refreshments throughout the program, next to the program list of the pieces that would be read.

“Poetry Day was lovely,” Roberts said. “It meant I got to hear from the minds and hearts of poets and peers, and it was astounding to hear them translate something they care deeply about into something powerful and raw.”

Although it was his first year participating, Roberts said he was proud of the outcome. 

“I’ve never written poetry to win anything, but it does feel nice to win,” he said. “I am very happy with how it turned out.” 

His spirit shows the aura of the day: passion, honesty and appreciation for the art of poetry.