Calton Brett Duckworth

The College Experience Calton Brett Duckworth

This book is a collection of poems written by Calton Brett Duckworth during his final years in college. The poems were written as therapy to express swollen amounts of fear, sadness, love, doubt, and more whenever they arose. Each poem has the approximate date of composition as part of the title. This allows the reader to follow the development of the author through time. This book is more than a brief collection poetry: it's a creative biography which employs poems to tell the story, otherwise known as confessional poetry. The development of the author is further complicated by the dimension of faith. Calton graduated with a degree in Religion from Liberty University, a politically-conservative, evangelical-Christian university. Donald Trump spoke at his commencement! Yet at the beginning of his writing career he began to question his faith and his call to Christian ministry. This coincided with a shift in political views from conservative to somewhat liberal. These two developments led to a deep sense of isolation in Calton. There was a distance between him and his classmates, both political and religious. The emotions of fear, anxiety, love, and impulse are not uncommon in college students. The author's hope in publishing this collection is to offer solidarity to other students struggling with these sentiments.