On Wednesday, Oct. 18, Augustana welcomed award winning poet Yashika Graham to the stage for a poetry reading featuring works from her upcoming collection “Some of Us Can Go Back Home.” 

Yashika Graham, a Jamaican poet and executive member of the Poetry Society of Jamaica, started her writing journey at eight years old and continued on to write long form prose on her personal history, family, nature and life itself. 

“I heard some poetry once on the radio,” Graham said. “And I think the music of it, the lyrics, the language, made me think, and it made me want to try and create that music for myself.”

She has won awards for her poems, including her piece “Time Travel,” and is currently a fellow for the University of Iowa International Writing Program. Through the University of Iowa, she has had the chance to visit different areas and read her poems to many groups, including the students and staff of different schools.

“I don’t have a specific thing I want them to take away from my poems,” Graham said. “Whatever moves a person and when it sparks something else inside of them, I find that to be beautiful.”

Michael Egan, co-director of the Jamaica Program and professor of education, has taught Graham’s work in class and was grateful that students had the chance to hear her work first-hand. 

“To hear the way the author recites poems opens up new windows,” Egan said. “There were some poems I read before, and I felt I had zero understanding of what they meant. But when she read, I thought, well I understand this now and I found that to be very interesting.”

Some of Graham’s works revolving around her personal life and familial life resonated deeply with the students and staff as she talked about her life as a young adult.

“I sense that anyone who’s been a young adult, much like pretty much everyone who was in the room, can connect,” Egan said. “Being a young adult and being out on your own for the first time can connect with just about everyone.”

Michael Scarlett, co-director of the Augustana Jamaica Program and associate professor of education, first heard of Yashika Graham on the radio and believed her work would be beneficial to Augustana students who are a part of the Jamaica program as her work connects deeply to Jamaica’s nature.

“I hope that the students who came have a greater appreciation of poetry or connection to the island,” Scarlett said. “If Jamaica wasn’t on their radar, I hope it is now.”

The Augustana Jamaica Program hopes to connect with Graham in the future when the program visits the island again in January of 2024 during J-Term. 

“One of the cool things about the program is how things just kind of happen serendipitously, and then some things happen for a reason,” Scarlett said. “Yashika is so connected to the music scene down there, so we are excited about that possibility.”

Augustana hopes to welcome Yashika Graham back in the future to once again share her work.