Savanna's Creative Work & Publications
The Murder Calls
The Murder Calls was my first attempt at writing a longer fiction piece that fully exposed my grief through a slightly comedic yet gory lens. Writing it was relieving, but also an ever-lasting challenge when it came to revision, as the weight of loss fluctuated on my shoulders with time. I found that I could portray human emotion across different mediums, but it was so easy to make a small moment far too large. I tend to get way into my prose, so this piece has been in a constant state of revision, which I love.
I Was CPR Certified in High School
In this poem, the speaker recalls her final moments with a loved one in thirty-second time stamps, signifying that no life is spared in the hands of fate, regardless of life-saving treatments or not. This is published in Butler University's literary magazine, Manuscripts (Vol. 89).
Page 187
Reality On a Spectrum Between Man and Me
Honorable Mention for Marianne Hedges Award for Excellence in Poetry (2025)
In this poem, the speaker walks herself through the realization of becoming hunted and sexualized during something as simple as an everyday routine. The speaker uncovers power dynamics between men and women while comparing the male gaze to weapons that kill.
Winter Crossroads
My poem, Winter Crossroads, was created from a prompt in my poetry class. We had to take our surroundings and relate them to a certain feeling. Here, I referenced a small, tucked-away church that hides behind my neighborhood's backroads. There's barely ever a crowd, but one night, I drove by and saw the church door fully open to expose a man during prayer. This piece questions how similar we all truly are while never clarifying the blurred lines that separate us. It plays with poetic bluntness, which was both challenging and exhilarating to create.
A Year-Round Body
In this poem, the speaker flows through all four seasons, describing bodily change with each holiday meal and the evidence of summer's sun coming and going. However, she can't help but notice there's something about her life that remains the same throughout. This was published in Butler University's literary magazine, Manuscripts (Vol. 90).
Click here.
Page 122
United in Grief
In this poem, the speaker invites the reader to sit with her at a table contaminated with grief in a "Dear Reader" style approach. This was published in Butler University's literary magazine, Manuscripts (Vol. 89).
Click here.
Page 168
Film and Fallacies
This paper was written for my 'Film as Literature' course during Spring 2025. Here, I created a conversation between Charlie Kaufman's Adaptation (2002) and academic scholar Thomas Leitch's "Twelve Fallacies in Contemporary Adaptation Theory." While typing it out, I uncovered a fallacy of my own: screenwriting possesses more magic and content than film creators want to accept. Writing this was cathartic for me, as I was able to connect my English Major to my Film Minor.
Transmedia: Your Femininity is My Power
For my final in Film as Literature (Spring 2025), we were asked to take one commonly adapted storyline in literature and create a new form. On the left is a mixed-media piece I composed that portrays my relationship with growing up feminine, only to discover it'll be weaponized against me in my adult years. Aside from the mixed media, I also wrote a paper further dissecting the topic. This is one of my favorite projects so far, as it combines my love for digital art and literature.
The Color Blue in Memento
