PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia has a new youth poet laureate who hopes to help teens across the city, one stanza at a time.
“My love of writing is what drove me to poetry,” said Telicia Darius, 17, a senior at Hardy Williams High School in Kingsessing. She was named the city’s youth poet laureate Monday morning.
“This is exciting. I’m excited about what I can do, and a little bit nervous, because this is a big deal,” Darius said.
Darius, who lives in Southwest Philadelphia, wrote her first poem when she was 7 years old, and composes in both English and French, the Free Library of Philadelphia says. She will be tasked with introducing the city’s youth to poetry and helping them access it.
She said her mission is to use poetry to help the city’s youth find ways to deal with difficult situations that have led to an increase in violent crimes.
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“I would like to reach others by helping them deal with their emotions in a constructive and creative way,” Darius said.
“It’s very important to me because I feel like a lot of people don’t know how to process their emotions, and that there’s a lot of built of frustration especially with everything going on, and people need space to release it all.
Library supervisor Kris Langlais says Darius’ role is a crucial block in helping her peers.
“I think it’s important to have a beacon for folks to look to, a leader someone who they can say, ‘I want to follow in that person’s footsteps,’ and this young person is that,” said Langlais.
Philadelphia Poet Laureate Airea Matthews said the position of youth poet laureate can help introduce the creative outlet to a whole new generation who otherwise may not have paid attention to the genre.
“To see yourself as someone who is kind of inside of the literary canon, it’s an amazing thing and it’s empowering for youth,” said Matthews.
Darius says she wants to channel a few poetry greats to help her reach others, liked they reached her.
“I would say Langston Hughes because he was one of the first poets that I learned about through the Harlem Renaissance, so he’s just nostalgia for me,” said Darius. “Emily Dickinson because I like that she was a female poet even though she didn’t get recognition, and she knew she wasn’t going to get recognition at the time, but she still wrote.”
Darius’ new role comes with a $1,000 scholarship. Her tenure will last a year.
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