Y’know the old saying that the earth isn’t given to us by our parents but is on loan to us from our kids? It’s the sort of sentiment that burns hot on the forebrain of Halifax’s Poet Laureate Sue Goyette: A neon imperative guiding missions like, say, Write Your Heart Out (the youth writer’s circle she recently launched with award-winning author Andre Fenton and noted theatre artist Meg Hubley) and, more recently, the push to give Halifax its own Youth Poet Laureate, an initiative Goyette discussed today with The Coast in an exclusive interview.
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The Youth Poet Laureate position—open to any HRM resident between the ages of 12 and 21—wasn’t just Goyette’s idea: She’s quick to share credit with former poets laureate Dr. Afua Cooper, Rebecca Thomas and El Jones, as well as Halifax’s community developer of public art, culture and events Lindsay Cory, saying “this is a group effort in a lot of ways.” (disclosure: Before her role with the city, Cory worked as part of The Coast’s event team).
But the timing is at its vine-ripened sweetest, Goyette thinks, as we need poetry now more than ever: “The way poetry thinks, it offers us a field of knowing and being that we don’t really encounter anywhere else. It invites us to consider our humanity and our decency. And it’s a place where we ask questions. It’s not always telling a story that comes to an easy resolution,” she says. “But using the genre as a way of creating space to consider and reflect on some of the complications that we’re living with, within the dynamic tension we just feel at being alive right now: Poetry is both a mirror and an invitation—and is an actual physical site where we can move through a poem and be recharged or invited to think in a way that’s different than the way we normally think.”
The last time Goyette spoke with The Coast—when Write Your Heart Out launched in early February—she said: “Like, look at Greta [Thunberg]: When I go to the Friday climate marches, those young people that were organizing it would get the mic, and talk in poems.”
On today’s phone call, I remind her of this—and ask her why having a formalized platform for youth is important. “I think having a Youth Poet Laureate gives us the opportunity to hear firsthand how our youth are thinking and experiencing being here—at this moment, that as we know, is a pretty important and significant time on the planet,” she says. “Having a youth as a literary ambassador offers local youth a role model into not just creativity, but also the opportunity to have a voice at important junctures of social justice—and just actually being important for the community of citizens that we take seriously.”
The new, one-year position offers a platform, yes, but also gives the opportunity to be mentored by Goyette. It also acts as a celebration of the Poet Laureate program’s 20-year mark.
“What I like about the youth that I work with and know is that there isn’t an element of performance. That there is a real authentic kind of response to what those writers are experiencing. And I think when you encounter something that’s been written from the heart in an authentic way, with the insight and perspective of someone who is young and moving into their adulthood about the kind of climate we’re living in—I think it makes all the sense in the world to be listening to these voices,” Goyette adds. “I think these are the most important voices because this is who will be stewarding our planet and the land and are the people who will be living with the ideas we have that will be projected further on into the future. I think making space for this perspective only makes sense for me at every level: Politically, artistically, collectively, like spirit or humanity. Like, all on all levels: I think this voice should always be at the table.”
Applications for the position of Youth Poet Laureate are open until April 1 at 5pm, and full details can be found on the arts, culture and heritage section of the city’s official site.
This article appears in Feb 1-28, 2023.
