By Enos Herkshan, Staff Reporter
Eighteen year old English major, Chantelle Sanchez, shares her passion for poetry with Main Campus inhabitants whether they like it or not.
Sanchez said that her love for poetry came when she was in the seventh grade.
Ever since, writing has been a major presence in her life, resulting in hundreds of poems written about both personal and second hand experiences with love and relationships.
Love is the focus of most, if not all, of her poems, she said.
“I like writing about other people more than myself,” she said.
Not all of the content of her poetry comes directly from her life, she said.
When asked why she was writing poetry in chalk around campus, Sanchez said that it began back in April as a tribute to Poetry Month.
She said she had a desire to give life to her creation, art is meant to be experienced and she wanted to give her art that opportunity.
“I wasn’t doing shit with my poetry. I wanted to do something with it, something that people would enjoy…I wanted to do something that people were really going to see. Like, ‘what the fuck am I stepping on?’” she said.
Sanchez said that chalk written poetry was not her only effort in delivering her work to the public.
She once painted and wrote a poem on a stretched canvas and left it on campus with instructions written on the back for whom ever finds it to take it home or pass it on to someone who may enjoy it, she said.
This move was inspired by her favorite poet and author Ian S. Thomas after reading his book I Wrote This for You, she said.
Sanchez also spoke about Christmas tree ornaments that she painted, wrote poems on, and hung on trees around campus.
Sanchez shared a story about a classmate, who saw her writing the poetry on the sidewalk, coming up to her and asking if she were alright.
Based on the sadness of the poem a classmate of Sanchez’s felt the need to make sure that she was ok, she said.
“She was about to cry…I was like, ‘No, I’m fine,” she said.
However, not all responses have been of this nature, she said.
She recalled an experience where she felt appreciated for her work when a fellow student found out that she was the author of the poems seen around campus.
“I felt like a celebrity, for a moment, in an awkward way,” she said.
Being recognized for her writing motivated her to keep going, she said.
Chantelle said that even though her poetry can be sad at times, or seem a bit depressing, she is happy as any other person and the work that she does adds to that in a way that a creative outlet should.
If you have walked around Main Campus recently and seen words of love and emotion written in chalk on walkways or parking lots then you have most likely seen the work of Ms. Sanchez.
She attends and serves CNM Main Campus like a literary vigilante, a poet’s Batman, giving hope to creative souls searching for a means of exposure in the vast Gotham that we call CNM.
By offering her poetry at no one’s demand, simply for the love of her craft, Sanchez is putting her words, her art, her creativity and heart on display, open for judgment and consumption by complete strangers, for no personal gain.
