In recognition of Taylor Swift’s latest album "The Tortured Poets Department," we asked several students who are featured in the latest edition of "Eastern Exposure" about their work, their muses and what makes them “tortured poets." Three members of the Creative Writing Club revealed that they used their writing as outlets for their personal rhetoric and retrospective.

Olivia Melillo (senior psychology major, class of 2025) 

Q: What is the title of your piece? 

A: My poem that was published in this year's edition of Eastern Exposure was titled "Am I that ugly?" 

Q: What's it about and what was your motivation for writing it? 

A: I wrote it the night of one of the open mics we have for Creative Writing Club and it was inspired by this lady who had come up to me in the parking lot at Stop & Shop. She was asking me for money and asked, "Am I that ugly?" multiple times throughout the interaction. The poem was written as an interpretation of her life from the point of view of a stranger. 

Q: Why is creative writing an invaluable practice for you? 

A: Creative writing is an invaluable practice for me because I can express myself and my emotions through my poems. I can say the words I am not able to say out loud to people and have control over what I say and who sees it. I can express myself and my emotions through my poems without anyone's judgment or permission. 

Sammy Vertucci (senior English major, class of 2025) 

Q: What is the title of your piece? 

A: My piece is called “I build.”  

Q: What's it about and what was your motivation for writing it?  

A: I wrote it about healing from a (difficult) time and people that I felt took a lot away from me. I used the metaphor of reclaiming my space to get this point across. 

Q: Why is creative writing an invaluable practice for you? 

A: I think that creative writing is so important to help with processing things that have happened to us and help us understand how to move forward or to find the truth at the center of complex feelings. 

Ian Harrington (junior English major, class of 2026) 

Q: What is the title of your piece?  

A: My piece is titled “One Shot of Whiskey.” 

Q: What's it about and what was your motivation for writing it?  

A: The piece, narrated in first person, follows a bounty hunter traveling through the desert in the late 19th century. He stumbles upon a tavern amidst a desolate valley and goes inside, striking up a conversation with the bartender over a drink. It's over the course of this conversation that the bartender convinces him to confess his last and greatest sin. The story was written for an assignment in Dr. Youngblood's Introduction to English Studies class where our instructions were to write a story based around two characters in one room. I had wanted to write a story concerning death, the afterlife and purgatory for quite some time and felt that working with such restrictions would allow me to properly conceive the idea.  

Q: Why is creative writing an invaluable practice for you? 

A: I've been writing fiction stories consistently since I was 13 and it's become the most central part of my life. For me it's largely because I have too many ideas for stories in my head to just keep to myself and I would love to share them with others. I also enjoy developing worlds and characters, which is why I typically lean more toward fantasy fiction for the world-building aspect. It's a way for me to explore characters and lives so unlike myself, such as a bounty hunter in the 1800s or a humble wizard wandering the countryside. 

To read the latest issue of Eastern Exposure, visit journal's website.