Though a Latin title of emeritus will soon be attached to Day Merrill’s poet laureate title, she’s hoping to be remembered as a little bit ridiculous.
“I would much rather hear people say, 'here she is, that wild woman of poems,'” said Merrill.
She is Collingwood’s first poet laureate, and her two year team is nearing its end this spring.
A former English teacher and published poet, Merrill started her work in May 2018.
She coordinated a public poetry installation that summer for Sidelaunch Days with “Write the Wave” a word mural painted by members of the public on some of the hoarding plywood at a development site on the promenade.
“That was created by the community,” she said.
Part of Merrill’s motivation as poet laureate was finding ways to make poetry more accessible, whether through public installations like Write the Wave or the sidewalk chalk poetry downtown for mental health week.
“People have been committed to the idea that poetry has been imprisoned in school books and on library shelves,” said Merrill. “They have a bad relationship with poetry because they believe it only lives in these formalized conditions … to create something they can encounter and have a relationship with makes poetry accessible.”
She said there’s also more going on when a poetry installation is in a physical and public space.
“Poems in public are never just the text,” said Merrill. “There’s all this context. There’s sound and movement and art … it’s a blend of multiple genres.”
While once people wrote about the inevitable and looming death of poetry, Merrill said it’s one of the fastests growing literary art forms thanks to things like public installations and, mostly, to online poetry such as Insta-poems.
Merrill has been blogging and posting her poems and other submitted poems to the town website.
A special project called Placeholders had local poets write poems about local places.
Merrill said it’s one of the most-read pages on the town site.
She has been tasked with writing original poems for special events, and has been surprised by the exciting feeling of a “homework assignment” and seeing where the final poem goes.
But the best part of her work has been with people.
“By far the most gratifying is introducing people to poetry,” she said. “The demographic I’ve enjoyed the most is kids.”
She organized a poetry slam for Collingwood Collegiate students, and was invited as a special guest to a Grade 4 classroom while they were working on a poetry unit.
They brought their original work to Merrill to read and discuss.
“It was like they had a flower to offer and they were asking, ‘Is that ok?,’” said Merrill, adding she thanked them and addressed them as poets when she left. “It’s about owning at that young age that yes, you are poets.”
Merrill will be part of the selection committee for the new poet laureate. The town is accepting applications for the position until March 25.
Her advice for those considering the job is to make sure they are open to ideas, okay with trying things that might not work, and are happy to work with people.
“This job is not about writing poetry,” said Merrill. “It’s about being the face and voice for poetry in the community … It’s a labour of love … it’s about celebrating poetry with and for people.”
For more information about the application process to be Collingwood’s second poet laureate, click here.
