"[T]he final poetic act is a giving, an offering, a relinquishing. An unfurling. In this way, poetry becomes generative... When a poem is shared, it grows and shapes itself into an endless string of new life—an experience of the universal in the specific, the abundance in the giving away, the multiplicity of revelation created by the act of inviting others into one's work, benefiting both poet and audience."
About
Victoria Horn is a contemporary poet and writer based in the rural Midwest. A quiet and contemplative child raised in the Lutheran Church, she enjoyed the relative silence of her small town upbringing and took to writing as a means of inner reflection and deep questioning. Although speaking aloud was often painful and embarrassing, Horn felt an unyielding desire to share her inner world with others in an authentic, unabashed way. From elementary school to her collegiate English department, she found immense joy in sharing her writing with trusted teachers and family members who encouraged her to trust her voice. The more she shared her work with others, the more and more certain Horn became in the assertion that her poetic practice is not complete until it is shared.
Whether sharing her words publicly in college workshops and poetry readings, privately with loved ones, online on Instagram @verses.with.v and on her public library's podcast, and even in collaboration with her childhood dance teacher, Horn views poetry, first and foremost, as a means of connection. For her, the final poetic act is a giving, an offering, a relinquishing. An unfurling. In this way, poetry becomes generative. Writing a poem is the practice of reducing one's thoughts and experiences into something authentic but also singular and definitive, separated from the greater context of all one has thought and experienced. When a poem is shared with someone else, it becomes greater than the sum of its parts, escaping the confines of one singular poet's experience. When a poem is shared, it grows and shapes itself into an endless string of new life—an experience of the universal in the specific, the abundance in the giving away, the multiplicity of revelation created by the act of inviting others into one's work, benefiting both poet and audience.
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Victoria Horn graduated summa cum laude from Northwestern College in 2018 with a B.A. in Writing & Rhetoric and Literature. She currently works at her childhood public library, processing the monthly book order, repairing books, creating social media graphics, and scripting, hosting, and producing her library's original podcast. Her spare time is occupied with writing poetry, drawing, painting, reading one of the billion books on her nightstand, and getting her required dosage of snuggles by pet sitting around town.