Haley Katona, a junior political
science major, is this week’s pick for
creative colonel. Katona’s high school
experiences and the urge to reinvent how
she sees language and emotion are what
fuels her passion for poetry.
According to Katona, she was always
interested in writing and loved English
her whole life but found that grief and
injustice, both as concepts and emotions,
are what pushed her into writing.
“I went through many personal
incidents that affected me deeply, such as
abuse and suicides of those around me,
combined with the administration who
was focused on sweeping wrongs under
the carpet while allowing a dangerous
environment for high school students to
perpetuate,” said Katona.
Katona usually writes about emotions
since they can be difficult to understand.
Normally, she writes about emotions that
she has seen or experienced herself and
translates them into imagery so others
can interpret and relate to them.
“I deeply enjoy the process of stringing
imagery and specific vocabulary together
in order to convey emotion itself,” said
Katona.
Katona’s vocabulary and imagery has
not gone unnoticed by others and is
what makes her work stand out.
“I especially enjoy her creative word
choice which always creates a unique
aesthetic and theme,” said Jennifer Boch,
senior history and international relations
major. “In addition, there is a lovely
balance of simplicity and complexity
that makes it flow while also having

great depth.”
During Katona’s first year here, her
friends urged her to submit her poetry
to the university’s creative writing
magazine, Manuscript Society. Out of
the work she submitted, three were
published.
“I think Haley’s poetry is of exceptional
quality and has very meaningful content,”
said Boch. “When I read her poetry, I feel
like I am reading something written by
the romantics like Keats, Bysshe-Shelley
or Byron but in the modern age.”
Currently, she has a private Instagram
account where she posts her poems
to display her artistic process. Katona
has plans to eventually open it up like
a publication release, expressing her
disinterest about financial profit or
popularity.
“I put it on there because it’s kind of

like piecing together a book in real-
time,” said Katona. “Though some pieces

are heavy, my only real goal is to avoid
self-censorship.”
Katona describes writing as freedom
not often thought of as freedom, which
is her favorite part of writing. For her, it
is hard to exactly describe how or why
writing inspires her.
“Poetry helps cleanse wounds deeper
than just speaking about emotions in my
opinion,” said Katona. “You are creating
something where it was once destroyed.”
Despite her passion for writing, Katona
is set on a career in law and plans to
become a civil rights attorney and hopes
to eventually become a judge, focusing
on trying to heal injustice.
However, this will not stop her from
writing. Her end goal is to have at least
one full collection of poetry published.