Poet laureate needs to represent us, spoken word artists say

Requirements exclude many of poetry community’s most active members

Mount Saint Vincent University professor Lorri Neilsen Glenn will end her four-year term as Halifax’s poet laureate in May. During the past four years she has held readings, begun the youth poetry group “Wordfishing,” which has recently launched a self-published “chapbook” and CD, and spoken at many poetry events. 

Now Halifax’s poetry community is wondering who will succeed her.

The Halifax poetry community has traditionally been divided between page poets, who read their poems and publish them in journals, and spoken word poets who perform them. The intention of selecting a poet laureate is to reflect the life of the city through readings of poetry, according to the Halifax Regional Municipality. 

However, many spoken word poets within the black community believe the application criteria shows a preference for page poets over spoken word poets. The criteria requires them to “have had one book professionally published.” They feel this discriminates against stage poets who release CDs and chapbooks.

“The selection process sounds like it is meant to exclude all the poets who participate in Halifax poetry life. Cuz, any real poet that is commenting on life that is going around here, is not getting a book published,” says Reed Jones, member of Halifax’s national championship-winning slam competition and Canada’s representative to the World Poetry cup in France. “It is not really set up to bring someone out of the community.”

Jones, also known as the Pr!ck for his online blog, was planning on attending a poetry session hosted by present poet laureate Lorri Neilsen this past Thursday at Mount Saint Vincent University. He was outraged that participants needed to have a book published in order to speak. As spoken word poets generally don’t qualify for the performance, he decided that he had better show up. Jones and Neilsen Glenn did not get to meet because a storm led to the cancellation of the event. 

“People in the community do not know who she is.  We are out here trying to do workshops with kids,” says Jones. “We are trying to teach life stuff with poetry.  It’s not who I would pick to represent it, I would change what it represents.”

“Different communities”

Marvin Trimm, the Bermuda native known as “Native Son,” became involved in the local spoken word poetry scene as a result of Neilsen’s advice. During the school year he attends Mount Saint Vincent University as a student in nursing and found out a professor at his school was the poet laureate. Neilsen told him to look up Shauntay Grant and Speak, the poetry series Grant started eight years earlier.

As a result he became a regular at Speak, the monthly poetry event, at Ginger’s Tavern on Barrington Street. Now he tours the United States poetry circuit during his summer months off from school. 

“Here, they are totally different communities,” says Trimm. “It is a different age. The page poets are more the qualified writers. (They have) a publisher, they are like 40 plus. Most of the spoken word poets are in their 20s, late 20s or in their 30s like me, and more political, more concerned with activism and community work in schools.  Spoken word artists don’t get that respect. Page writers think it is not an art. They think it is not poetry,” says Trimm.

“What they fail to realize is that it is poetry written for the stage. Even an actor or an actress can become poetic. It is so hard to define what is poetry. You ask anybody what poetry is and they will tell you a different thing. Poetry is music, poetry is life. It is not just words on a page. I just feel that people shouldn’t separate themselves. I performed at the Shoestring series at the Economy Shoe Shop and was the only stage poet who attended. It was incredible being exposed to new writers and new audiences. The more I am exposed to, the better I will get.”

Poet laureate seeks change

Neilsen also has an interest in bringing the poetry communities together. She is looking to change the requirements to give future poet laureates two-year terms rather than four years and open the position to spoken word poets. She will make a more formal announcement Feb. 18, at her re-scheduled author’s night.

“Halifax, to my knowledge, will be the first city to open up the position to spoken word/performance poets,” says Neilsen. “We have award-winning slam poets, we have poets who speak to all manner of ideas and issues...young, seasoned... we have poets that perform on the street, in coffeehouses, in living rooms, with music and without...Halifax is a very strong poetry community.”

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