I don’t think I had any big expectations going into the role. That may have been partially because I was only 22 years old, and was not super present in Barrie’s municipal realm for the other two Poet Laureate’s terms. I was honoured but also a bit shocked that the city was taking a chance on some kid, it made me realize that I had talent beyond what I gave myself credit for and that I should probably stop referring to myself as “some kid.” I was hoping for the opportunity to work on getting a poetry collection published, which did happen thanks to the guidance and mentorship of Bruce Meyer.
Truthfully, I was expecting I would have a lot more responsibility. My only real job was to write and perform an original poem at the arts awards annually, and occasionally perform a piece at a city event if they asked. Although that didn’t happen often, aside from once at council. However, 2 out of my 4 years as PL were during COVID, so I feel there would have been much more opportunity if we hadn’t all been suffering through a global pandemic. My reflections on my personal experience are kind of skewed thanks to COVID.
As PL, you essentially represent the city through the written word and encourage the love of poetry wherever you go. Like a poetry princess, I should have had a scepter and gown! I’m not sure how it works in other cities, but I was nominated and then selected by a jury. Barrie’s terms are four years, but I’ve seen them vary all over the place. Our current PL, Ty the Poetess, is incredible. Every time I blink she’s hosting a new community event, and I couldn’t be more proud of her as my successor. She’s doing amazing things.
I did suggest a revamp of Barrie’s Poet Laureate program after spending the weekend with other PL’s in Ottawa at 2019’s edition of “Laureate City.” A lot of other municipalities both a) Have a much larger annual stipend for their PL and/or B) Also present them with a project budget in order to get them to do something within the community. Barrie’s PL has a very minimal stipend. The idea that poets are all retired old men seemed to permeate the city a bit. For younger poets with minimal spare time, it’s difficult to allocate the amount of time you want to something when there’s little compensation. It means sacrificing a lot of paid work which just isn’t viable when you have bills to pay and exuberant expensive groceries to buy. I wish I could have done way more than I did, but I didn’t have the means. I’m still really hoping to push the city council towards increasing the stipend and introducing a project budget at some point.
I genuinely loved being PL. It gave me some incredible opportunities that I don’t think I would have had so early on in my career otherwise. I was able to travel around Ontario and get paid to read poetry, a dream come true! It gave me the understanding that I could pursue writing as a viable career, not just a pipe dream. The position, and understanding what an honour it was, made me want to be the best Poet Laureate I could be. It actually inspired me to go back to school. I had dropped out of U of T in 2017, and was just sort of coasting, writing poetry and working cafe jobs and spending all my time at dive bars. The topic of returning to school terrified me.
The town of Windsor invited me to speak at their annual event titled “Poetry At the Manor,” and I was seated beside my first year writing professor and Toronto’s Poet Laureate, A.F. Moritz. The same man who told me, almost three years ago, that I was a real poet, a comment he made after marking my very first writing portfolio that contained some of the worst poetry I have ever produced, but still, he christened me early, and now here I was on the same panel as him.
The other poets that surrounded me were well educated, almost all of them university professors. I felt young and inexperienced beside them, which was a given seeing as I was only 23 at the time. Maybe it was the proximity to my first poetry professor, or the pressure of explaining the status of my degree to strangers again and again, but something had shifted in me. During the Q&A section of the reading, someone asked how I intended to give my all to the city of Barrie as their Poet Laureate, or something along those lines. I noted that being a PL meant one needed to take writing seriously.
“Which is why I decided I’m going back to school.”
I still, to this day, have no idea where that came from. I didn’t realize I had made that decision at all, but it came out of my like a promise and rapturous applause from the audience followed. After this, I told my friends what I had said and laughed, relieved that I had only said this to a bunch of strangers from Windsor so I was under no obligation to keep my promise to them.
Of course I went back though. I made the commitment then and there. I actually just graduated this past June with a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing from U of T’s Scarborough campus. If I didn’t have the encouragement from my laureateship, I don’t think I would have done it.
Something I should mention too, that
I’ve seen with quite a few municipalities, is that council’s and staff get
really upset when you do your job. They often want you to read exclusively
happy poems about your city and never once mention any hint of conflict or
opinion. Jenna Lyn Albert, PL of Fredericton from 2019-2021, read a poem about
abortion rights at the beginning of a council meeting and multiple members were
up in arms, saying it was “too political” despite it happening at a meeting of
municipal government. I was regularly “nudged” in the direction of taking the
“Poet Laureate” title out of my social bios because I spoke about local issues.
Going into the role, you have to be aware that if you write about important
issues, you’re going to piss people off. Which I would argue is kind of the
point? You can’t spend your entire term writing exclusively about your city’s
landmarks when there are real issues going on that you feel called to write
about. I would encourage you to get very cryptic in your writing so you calling
our poor leadership doesn’t result in any integrity commissioner reports in
your name (not that it would have any bearing).
Victoria Butler is a writer from
Barrie, ON. She was the Poet Laureate of said hometown from 2018 until 2022 and
was the first woman to carry the title. She has a Bachelor of Arts with High
Distinction in Creative Writing at the University of Toronto. Her first book,
Little Miracles, was published with Black Moss Press in September 2021. Butler
lives with her cats, Zelda and Navi, and spends her 9-5 as a wedding officiant.
You can find her on Instagram @victoriabutlerpoetry or on her website at
victoriabutler.ca
