Senior Calista Ogburn wasn’t planning on publishing a book at all this year, but when the pandemic struck, so too did inspiration. As anti-Asian sentiments flooded the world and Ogburn herself faced hateful glares, she knew she needed to pour her frustrations into her poetry. A few months later, her poetry book “this is it” was born.
Around late March, when the University of Maryland, Baltimore County sent students home, Ogburn had writer’s block. Her last poetry book, “a splash of yellow” came out in July of 2019, and she hadn’t written much since. “I thought last year’s book was it. I even contemplated whether I was a poet anymore.
“I wanted to draw attention to what’s going on right now [with anti-Asian sentiments], because I feel like it’s not really talked about anymore, but I recognize there are other things going on right now. I was afraid to put out my book last week, because I didn’t want to distract from [the Black Lives Matter movement]. I was really worried about selective activism, but I really want to say that this book is literally for everyone. Anyone can relate to this kind of pain and rage,” she said.
-from The UMBC Retriever, March 31, 2021
