A poet from Lancaster, California, visited Shippensburg University on Wednesday, to share how she tied themes of human nature into poetry. 

Jennifer Knox, who teaches at Iowa State University, was featured four times in the Best American Poet series and has had her work featured in The New York Times. 

Knox read from poems such as "Drones," which described the often-used technology as a pest. 

"Friends, we’re living in golden, fleeting moment wherein rich people are buying very expensive toys that fly higher than airplanes,” she said. “The toys can land anywhere on your fire escape, in your yard and photograph you through your curtains with a surveillance camera, record things you’re saying with a high-powered microphone." 

Most of the poem topics were about something serious or had some kind of a shock factor. Knox still managed to joke around and make it a fun event, mixing in profanity or relating the poems to natural human nature. Specifically, "The Mushroom Burial Suit," which described a device that you can decide to be buried in where mushrooms break down your body to be more economically friendly. 

"Skin, blood, bones, and acorns sprouting in the now vacant mouth, down through a life of frets and flurry to the ground thriving under," she said, reading from her poem. 

Knox is known for her unorthodox style of poetry, breaking the set rules that surround the craft. 

"The first time I broke a rule, nobody died. The rules get easier to break as you keep breaking them,” Knox said. She ended the night by reading from her book "Mystery of the Hidden Driveway," which looked to satisfy the more devoted audience members. 

"It was really cool how she presented it, she changed her voice to fit the poem, it made it exciting," said SU junior Chris Miller. When asked how she stays on top of her writing game, Knox explained it very simply, "Poetry is like playing tennis, you play every day.”

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