Poet and educator Ariane Tapp is passionate about getting young people involved with verse. Photo: Éloise Duguay-Langlois.
As much as Ariane Tapp loves the process of putting words together to create something beautiful, the Quebec-based poet notes that the art form can also serve a higher, more meaningful purpose. Sometimes you need an outlet for things that are going on inside.
“Poetry is a way for me to express myself and my emotions, and maybe the darker side of me,” the Quebec City-based Tapp says in an interview with the Straight. “I always come across as a really joyful and zestful person—full of energy. But then when you look at some of my work, it’s like, ‘Oh. Okay—there’s more to things.’ So it’s good for expressing myself, and that’s why I think it’s really good for teenagers.”
In addition to being a poet and educator, Tapp is also one of the organizers of Poetry in Voice, a youth-centred Canadian competition that returns to Vancouver this month for its national finals.
Celebrating National Poetry Month, and the idea that the form is alive and well in Canada, the finals have multiple components. A live-performance competition will have nine high schoolers from around the country reciting poems in three streams—English, French, and bilingual—before an audience of 2,000 people at the Centre in Vancouver.
Sixteen high schoolers will also participate in Poetry in Voice’s mentorship program FutureVerse, with the four-day intensive workshop designed to empower the next generation of poets.
Judges for the Poetry in Voice national finals have included heavyweight Canadian icons like Evelyn Lau, Stéphane Despatie, and Wade Compton, as well as rising stars such as Cicely Belle Blain and Isabella Wang. Up for grabs in the competition is $25,000 in prize money.
After becoming intrigued by poetry in her teens, Tapp—who became part of Poetry in Voice’s guiding team in 2022—had her world rocked pre-university in Quebec City.
“I had a wonderful teacher who basically showed me what modern and contemporary poetry was,” she says. “Like free verse and prose—it blew my mind. I got really into poetry after that, writing my first poetry book in university, and then I’ve always continued writing it after that.
“I didn’t know if poetry can be a career,” Tapp adds with a laugh, “but as a side thing I’ve continued writing and being part of the literary community here in Quebec City and the province.”
East Vancouver’s Jeremie English is one of four young B.C. poets taking part in FutureVerse, and, like Tapp, he sees the form as a way to make sense of a world that can often be confusing.
“Poetry helps me express my emotions,” English tells the Straight. “Whenever I’m going through something, it helps me to write down my ideas and turn my negative emotions into something positive.”
English’s interest in poetry started with encouragement from a teacher, who nurtured the idea that he might have something important to say. Proving that was indeed the case, check out the young poet’s powerful “Love In Transit” on the Poetry in Voice website. To be grinding it out in ever-unaffordable rainy Vancouver is to relate to lines like “She knows/The same faces/ Going through the same routine/Down the same road/In the same dead atmosphere.”
As he immersed himself in the world of poetry, English began discovering the work of others, with giants of the form convincing him those who go through challenging times are not alone.
“One of the authors that I first read, who really sparked my interest in poetry, was Sylvia Plath,” he relates. “I read one of her books, Ariel, and that made me
really want to be someone who writes.”
Among the nine students participating in the Poetry in Voice live-performance competition will be Eric Hamber Secondary student Zak Tucker, who will recite “Application Form” by Phoebe Wang, and “L’Enfant Prodigue” by Gilles Hénault. Tucker recalls seeing his fellow students do a reading at school in Grade 8, with a recitation of Harry Baker’s “Paper People” turning him onto a literary form that he previously had little knowledge of.
“I always thought of poetry as ‘On the paper—not very vibrant,’ ” he admits. “That really broadened my perspective.”
Noting that one of the Poetry in Voice’s social media hashtags is “#BingePoetry”, Tucker adds, “I really like the idea of making poetry more resonant with people. At the National Finals I think there is going to be all these elementary school kids coming from across the region, so to make poetry feel really meaningful to all these young students is where I think we’re going in the realm of poetry.”
Consider that the latest part of a cycle that’s been going on since poets began putting words to parchment.
“It comes in waves,” Tapp offers. “Like, after the beat poets, there was a big revival in the ’70s and ’80s, and then it fell a bit out of fashion. Now I think there’s another revival now with slam, and poetry not only being written, but performed onstage in multi-disciplinary shows with dancing and visual art. It’s out there more and more out there, and that makes it accessible to everyone. There’s kind of a thing going on right now.”
The Poetry in Voice finals take place at the Centre in Vancouver on May 15.