Islanders share poems to celebrate National Poetry Month

by Nash Alonto

April 5, 2024

Julie Bull recited their poem “Where I’m From” in front of a small group of seven at a poetry open-mic night event at the Charlottetown Library Learning Centre on Thurs., April 4, 2024, to celebrate National Poetry Month. (photo by Nash Alonto)

In front of a small group inside a quiet function room, Julie Bull recited their poem “Where I’m From”.

Bull wrote the poem in 2017, while they were studying for their doctorate at the University of New Brunswick.

“I love to write poetry, I love to share poetry, I love to hear other people’s poetry, and anytime there is (poetry reading) at the (Charlottetown) library, and it’s open to everybody, it brings in a lovely, diverse crowd, and I enjoy that,” Bull said.

Bull wrote it because they wanted to look how researchers position themselves within the work they do, and wanted to understand where they belonged in the research they were doing.

“I brought my long love of poetry into that,” they said.

It would later spawned a 12-minute poem and was since published in a book titled “Land of Many Shores,” which was an anthology of stories from Newfoundland and Labrador, where Bull grew up.

Whenever the poem would pop into their head, it was a lot of things.

“It was vulnerable, it was raw, it was sharing parts of myself that I don’t necessarily or didn’t use to share,” they said.

Julie Bull reciting “Where I’m From” in front of a small group at a poetry open-mic night event at the Charlottetown Library Learning Centre on Thurs., April 4, 2024, to celebrate National Poetry Month. (photo by Nash Alonto)

Bull, an independent creative consultant based in Charlottetown, was one of seven people who came to this poetry night event at the Charlottetown Library Learning Centre on Thurs., April 4, 2024, to share their poems.

Tanya Davis is the Poet Laureate of Prince Edward Island. She recently hosted the poetry open-mic night event at the Charlottetown Library Learning Centre on Thurs., April 4, 2024, to celebrate National Poetry Month. (photo by Nash Alonto)

P.E.I. Poet Laureate Tanya Davis, who hosted the event, said it was to celebrate National Poetry Month, which is celebrated every April.

Davis said she loves going to and hosting open mics as the Poet Laureate because of the variety.

“Everyone has a different writing style. A really great thing about open mics is that you get exposed to a bunch of different writers, different poets, and their style(s),” she said.

The best thing about listening to poems, Davis said, is how people express themselves while reciting.

“Everybody reads differently and writes differently, so the rhythm in people’s writing, I like to listen to that. If you’re at a performance or an open mic, then…the way people read out loud is different than maybe how you’d hear it if you read it on paper, so you just get a different version of their poem,” she said.

P.E.I. Poet Laureate Tanya Davis reciting one of her poems, “Ceasefire”, at a poetry open-mic night event at the Charlottetown Library Learning Centre on Thurs., April 4, 2024, to celebrate National Poetry Month. (photo by Nash Alonto)

Davis said there going to be other events on P.E.I. for National Poetry Month and suggested looking on The Buzz or on social media.