Collingwood has a new poet laureate.
The changeover occurred during the Oct. 19 council meeting and was a first for the town.
Day Merrill was the Town of Collingwood’s first poet laureate, and passed the baton to Claudia Ferraro who will serve in the position for the next two years.
Merrill sent an audio message for the council meeting thanking everyone for their support in her two-and-a-half-year term as the town’s first poet laureate.
She read a poem entitled Words of a Feather, which she wrote in honour of the changeover occasion.
“Now my words drop back so that new ones can forge ahead. I slip into the vanguard assured we will keep moving forward,” she recited. “New leadership out in front, supported by fellow words of a feather who may never head the V, but hold the flock together. The constant steadfast beating of their wings. What really makes flight possible.”
Ferraro took part in the virtual change over via Zoom, thanking town staff for the chance to serve as poet laureate and giving credit to Merrill for her pioneering of the position.
“The work that Day has done for poetry over the past couple of years is amazing,” she said. “I always knew there was poetry all around this town … but it wasn’t always all that visible. Day has made massive steps in bringing poetry out of the shadows.”
Ferraro grew up in Collingwood and is now living in Nottawa. She is in her final year of the English and creative writing degree program at Dalhousie University and is working on her thesis exploring the power of eco-poetry as education on climate change.
The new poet laureate shared a four-pronged vision for her term with council.
First, she wants to establish a “consistent, alive, and youthful online presence,” including a new Instagram account and monthly Zoom workshops.
Next, she welcomes an “inclusive and diverse ocean of voices,” to offer a place for minority members a safe place to tell their stories, and to show off the playful and unrestrictive aspects of poetry as an art form.
Third, she wishes to “nurture relationships to the times we are living in,” and for her, that means focusing on the environmental crisis through eco-poetry.
Fourth, she wants to create a “physical and long-standing archive of the poetic works Collingwood will create over the coming years.”
Ferraro hopes to keep making poetry accessible in Collingwood and help people see “how cool poetry really is.”
“I love this town so much, but I don’t think you can love something properly without taking the time to really examine it and question it and talk to it and listen to it,” said Ferraro. “I’m looking forward to the opportunity to grow closer to the place that guided me in my own growing.”
According to a press release from the town, applications for Collingwood’s poet laureate position were garnered through an open call for submissions. A $7,000 honorarium is provided for the two-year term.
CollingwoodToday will feature a question and answer interview with the new poet laureate, Claudia Ferraro, this Saturday.
