April in Tantramar marks the start of spring, a shift in precipitation from snow to rain. The early-to-rise flowers beginning to bloom. It’s also National Poetry Month.
For Tantramar’s Poet Laureate Laura Watson, the month is another chance to convince people to care about poetry and to show them it can be something for everyone, not just those with the right education or special temperament for it. And that it can be as varied as any other art in terms of difficulty and subject matter.
“ I think we should think about poetry the same way we think about all the other kinds of art that we engage with all the time. You know, you probably don’t think of yourself as someone who doesn’t like any music. You just have certain music you like,” she said. “I think there’s poetry out there for everybody.”
Listen to the audio below:
Traditionally, a poet laureate would write poems to mark special occasions. Watson, who publishes a poem every month in the Tantramar newsletter and will read poems at certain events, said she views her role a bit differently.
“ I’ve mostly approached it as kind of an excuse to kind of bring people together or build community around writing in the area,” she said. “I’m not a poet with an incredible publishing record or anything like that, so I’ve tried to approach it more as, how can I help support this community?”
To that end, as she has for the past few Aprils, Watson is busy sorting through the submissions for this year’s poetry contest. Submissions closed on Monday, and there will be an event at the end of the month to announce the winners and give them an opportunity to read their poems.
But, in the interest of promoting poetry for all, there will also be an open mic component, so anyone from the municipality is welcome to read something they wrote or even a poem they like, said Watson.
“ So there’ll be that event at the end of the month, and we’re also putting together a chapbook of all the poems that were submitted to the contest. And that will hopefully also be out for that event at the end of the month, which is on April 28th,” she said. “It’s a Tuesday at 6 pm and this year the chapbook’s going to be printed by Gaspereau Press, which is really nice since they have recently moved to Sackville.”
Other events celebrating the month were a poetry circle at Station 8 in Dorchester on Tuesday, as well as the monthly Writers’ Open Mic Watson hosts in the Bill Johnstone Memorial Park Centre on April 26 at 3 pm.
The Sackville Public Library has also chosen a book of poetry for its monthly book club, which they will meet to discuss on the first Tuesday of May.
