How did you first engage with poetry?
This is a favourite question of mine because it comes with a funny
story. When I was in grade six we did a poetry unit in school that introduced
me to the work of Canadian poet, Irving Layton. It was a poem called Song for Naomi, and this poem made me
feel wild inside. We learned about literary devices using that poem and I
vividly recall how I felt, trying to understand how it all worked, discovering
how exciting language could be. But I was also really moved by the images in
that poem too. I identified with the growing child; I was amazed by the
combination of love and sorrow inside it. I wanted the poem to be mine so badly
that I copied it down into a notebook and changed the title to Song for Shannon. I told my mother I was
the author. It was after telling this lie that I started to try and write my
own poems.
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