Kiana first began scribbling poems in elementary school where she realized she “had a knack for it.” “It was therapeutic,” Kiana says, writing poems “helped me throughout my everyday life.” Now a senior, Kiana joined LSU's spoken word organization, Free Verse, to perfect her poems by competing in slam poetry tournaments.
Each year, Kiana fights to compete in the largest slam poetry tournament in America, CUPSI (College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational). Universities across America battle to earn cash prizes and notoriety across America's poetry community. To qualify for the tournament, registrants must pass preliminary rounds. According to Kiana, “only five people will be picked” from LSU to compete. She is uncertain if she will pass the qualifiers again this year but is “super excited” anyway. “If I don’t make it,” she says, “I still plan on going because CUPSI is also an experience where you can work with other writers and other artists.” To learn more about CUPSI, click here.
When asked about writers she admires, Kiana explains “I’m trying to be my own writer.” That said, “I do have people that I like, work that I really enjoy.” Some of Kiana’s current favorite poems include performances from CUPSI 2019 like Isha Camara’s "alien party," Rabi, Tima Ally, and Cleo’s "Buss Down Spookiana," and Triscuit The Biscuit’s "TTA1." A few chapbooks and anthologies Kiana has on her bookshelf now are There Are More Beautiful things Than Beyonce by Morgan Parker, I'm So Fine by Khadijah Queen, and CUPSI's 2019 anthology.
Kiana’s inspiration behind her poem, “Black Death: The Ghost Whispers of Those Who Can’t Speak,” originally began as an 100 lined poem for class. Kiana saw this as an opportunity to write about her "weird fascination with the Black Death" in a freestyle form. She says, combine those two "together and there’s my baby."
Kiana receives writing advice from either watching poetry slam videos on Youtube or learning from her professors. Professors “like Laura Mullen, Laura Glenum, and Randolph Thomas,” helped Kiana “open” her “eyes to new possibilities.” Professor Mullen, in particular, “helped take my work from literally a 5 to a 9.8,” Kiana says. “I almost inspire to be exactly like her.”
Not only is Kiana the vice president of Free Verse and a competitive slam poet, but she also has a duel major: creative writing and theater. Kiana recently premiered in King Lear this summer as Edmund. Kiana says she "had a lot of fun" playing Edmund. Kiana explains she constantly submerges herself in creative outlets, like theater, because being “productive and active as possible” helps “keep” her “creativity alive.”
Kiana describes her weekdays as working “every day from 3-6” after her classes, then returning home to finish homework. “I wish I had time to sit down and work on my writing,” Kiana says. “Being a full-time student, it is so hard sometimes to create.” “Over the weekends, sometimes I will pull out my laptop and try to piece things together and try to see what works.” However, throughout the weekdays, Kiana describes herself as a “sporadic writer.”
Toting around a rose embellished notebook, Kiana scribbles poetry whenever “something hits” her. She has more notebooks at home—“maybe ten right now”—where she has “random writings” stored. Kiana also uses her phone to write poems but swears writing in a notebook is “a better tool when it comes to getting out your creativity.”
Once Kiana earns her dual degree, she plans to enroll in Purdue University to receive an MFA in poetry. She thinks she wants to stay there and teach, or work on her PhD. However, Kiana says she might “come back here and go to law school so I can have a stable career.” Her future is “still not a clear path.” For now, her current goal is to publish her chapbook.
You can follow Kiana on Facebook (Kiana Naquin), Snapchat (quinndaishone), click on the links below for her Twitter, or watch her CUPSI performance.
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The Delta