Since being named Pikes Peak Poet Laureate in 2021, Ashley Cornelius has had an impressive tenure.
The 2013 UCCS Communications and Psychology grad has established an annual poetry summit, created a downtown mural with visual artist Jasmine Holmes, hosted open mic nights and therapy workshops, partnered with Imagination Celebration to form global connections with poetry exhibits and much more.
Ashley even spent the first two years of her new role still working an additional full-time job at a Denver hospital, where she provided peer support for the hospital’s employees and helped them find resources and connections. Though she’s transitioned to working as an artist full time, her experience and skills in therapy and connecting with others are still used daily and she’s now able to fully focus on her artistic endeavors.
“Being Poet Laureate helped me realize that art can be the thing that I do for a living,” Ashley said. “It’s how I experience joy and it provides me with so much purpose. This laureateship, being in the community and working in the arts propelled me to leave a position that was rewarding, but also traumatic.”
That community aspect has been a significant portion of Ashley’s work in her laureate role. The downtown mural she collaborated with Jasmine Holmes on, “Sun Kissed,” has depictions of Colorado Springs residents and features a poem crafted by Ashley after she interviewed twelve community members, ranging from ages of nine years old to over 80, and wove their experiences into her words.
“I always wanted to create a piece of public poetry, so I’m very excited about being part of the mural,” said Ashley. “A video of my poem ‘Prismatic’ is featured in the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum in their ‘50% of the Story: Women Expressing Creativity‘ gallery, which is the first all-women gallery in Colorado Springs, and I created the poetry summit that happens every April for poetry month. It’s a huge showing of poets and performers all across Colorado that join to engage with poetry and each other through panels, performances and workshops.”
“I’m really trying to elevate what poetry looks like on a community level, but also what it looks like in terms of fine art,” she added.
Amidst the many ventures she’s already undertaking, Ashley is also preparing to launch her debut poetry book, “Translations from the Soul,” at UCCS Downtown on August 17. The event takes place from 6-8 p.m. and is open to all community members to join and meet Ashley and fellow local arts enthusiasts while listening to music and engaging with local arts. Ashley will also be signing copies of her book, performing readings of her poetry and hosting a Q&A session.
“This is my first poetry collection ever and has been about six years in the making,” Ashley shared. “It’s an exciting celebration of poetry and birthing this book into the world. I consider myself a ‘translator,’ because I take these big concepts of love and depression and sadness, and then translate that into a poem where people can better understand my experience. I think that’s what poetry is supposed to do – give language to things that we felt and experienced and to our soul, our spirit, our mind.”
Ashley’s partnership with UCCS Downtown has also grown during her time as Poet Laureate, and she’s taking advantage of the benefits of being a UCCS alum. The downtown location is free for reservation by alumni and offers space for use in a variety of events.
“The UCCS Downtown space has been fantastic,” noted Ashley. “It’s really amazing that this downtown space is available for alumni to use for all kinds of things – events, meetups, group activities. I needed a big enough space that was also comfortable, and working with UCCS Downtown has been wonderful. It also makes me feel really proud to be an alum. I went to UCCS, and now this is another iteration of who I am in my career and my identity, and I still can utilize this space and support UCCS in that way and that’s a really powerful thing.”
Like so much of her work, Ashley’s upcoming book and its launch emphasize community connection. The first half of “Translations from the Soul” features poems Ashley was inspired to write herself, while the second half is composed of commissioned pieces.
“Commissions are a significant part of being Poet Laureate and I’m often asked to write about a specific topic or place in the community,” she said. “I really love doing them, and with my book I wanted to show the gifts that I give myself as well as the gifts that I get to offer the community.”
Ashley plans to continue her efforts to increase poetry activity in Colorado Springs and its many communities, and hopes to see it incorporated in new ways and with new audiences.
“I run Poetry719 with my partner, Christopher Beasley, and founder Philip J. Curtis, and we host a variety of poetry and art events, but I’d love to see an increase of poetry presence in general, and more cohesion within the poetry community,” said Ashley. “I would love to see poetry in spaces it’s not as expected, like a Switchbacks game, and see it within other fine art categories as well – what does poetry look like in a gallery, or a symphony? I’d also love to see more youth poetry things happening, whether it’s through competitions or showcases or open mics – however we can cultivate new poets, no matter how old they are, but also tending to and supporting our young folks in poetry.”
“I’m not self made, I’m community made, and none of this would have been possible without so many people pouring into me and believing in me even when I didn’t believe in myself,” Ashley added with an emphasis. “So, thank you to all of the folks who showed a lot of love and care. Hopefully I can be a picture of being your authentic self – being a black queer woman is hard, and it is also beautiful, and those two things exist at once. That’s also what the book is about. I’m here for all of the folks who have ever felt like maybe this place wasn’t for them, or couldn’t hold what they have to share. I want to hear it, the community wants to hear it, so please continue to share your voices and your stories.”