Archive

Dufferin County’s first Poet Laureate a ‘cultural ambassador’

June 22, 2017   ·   0 Comments

By Mike Pickford

Upon his unveiling as Dufferin County’s inaugural Poet Laureate at the turn of the month, Harry Posner immediately set out to educate local residents about the power of the written word.

Having himself dabbled in different forms of writing for the best part of the last 40 years, Mr. Posner was intrigued when he first learned that a position would be opening up in the region. Stumbling across an ad promoting the ‘job’ at a literary event in Orangeville earlier this year, Harry knew right away it was a challenge he wanted to embrace.

“I’m very excited to take on this position,” Mr. Posner told the Citizen. “I have a lot of experience when it comes to writing, so I’m looking forward to sharing those experiences with the community in my new role.”

But what is it exactly that a Poet Laureate does? Harry explained, in so many words.

“The basic function of a Poet Laureate is to be a type of cultural ambassador to the community to highlight the arts and writers in the community, and to create projects that involve educational opportunities for young writers,” Mr. Posner said. “I’ve already been doing a lot of that over the last couple of years, so this is basically an extension of the work I’ve carried out in the community.”

While he began his working life putting his Psychology degree from York University to use in the child care sector, it wasn’t until he was home with a pen in hand that Harry felt true fulfillment. And it wasn’t until years later, when he was well into his 30s, that he began to consider himself a true writer.

“My evolution as a writer has been very organic and very ‘follow your heart’ in a way. I developed my craft over a number of years to the point that people started to say ‘that’s pretty good, you’re a good writer, Harry’,” Mr. Posner said. “That encouragement built and built and, really, it’s what has kept me going all these years.”

Harry has self-published three novels – Charivari, A Softness in the Eyes and Auroch Unbound. He has a book of poems (Wordbirds) and another of short stories (Little Exits), while he has also released two audio poetry CDs (The Tale of Umberto Imbroglio and in the Event of True Happiness).

Although he would never call himself a prolific writer, Mr. Posner has managed to forge an impressive career for himself in the world of creative writing. Now, he’s hoping to help the next generation of writers in Dufferin County find their feet in the arts of poetry and storytelling.

“I imagine myself going into schools and doing poetry workshops… I’ll take every opportunity as the Poet Laureate to explain to people why poetry matters and how it works, what it’s like and all of its varieties. I’m also excited to share my own poetry and highlight different writers in the community as well.”

He already has a track record in that regard, launching the community group Cyclotron alongside his friend and partner Anthony Carnovale. Together, the pair seeks to create and cultivate relationships throughout the community through storytelling and the art of creative writing. The duo also joined forces earlier this year for the release of Extra Pulp, a new arts-centric zine that provides an alternate take on issues in the community through poetry and short stories.

With this first term running through to the next municipal election in October of 2018, Mr. Posner acknowledges he has a lot of work to do if he is to elevate culture and writing in general to the level he’d like to see in Dufferin County.

“I want to remind people of that rather essential, existential truth that we’re only here for a short time and we need to make what little time we have (on this planet) as meaningful as possible,” Harry said. “Poetry is a fantastic way to tackle the difficulties and oddities that come with everyday life. It’s a nice escape… It asks where do we come from, who we are and where we are going. Simple, yet meaningful stuff.”

Readers Comments (0)