Center for Teaching and Learning students, from left, Eleanor Frey, Nora Ballard, Nathalie Wilson, Jacqueline Branch, Adeline Inman, Meghan Arnold and Octavia Aurora gather at the Skidompha Library Tuesday, Dec. 3, to compete in a winter poetry competition. Laura Sitterly / The Times Record

Maine’s poet laureate had a couple questions for some Midcoast students during a recent visit: Do you turn to poetry for comfort or guidance? Do you believe words can impact our lives and the world?

Julia Bouwsma, now in her third term as poet laureate, led a student-writers workshop at the Center for Teaching and Learning in Edgecomb on Tuesday, Dec. 3, before heading to Skidompha Library in Damariscotta later in the day to judge a poetry competition.

At the Center for Teaching and Learning, each day starts with a poem — from Georgia Heard to Langston Hughes. From pre-K to eighth grade, poetry is a subject the school relies on. Teachers curate a selection of verses to unpack weekly and encourage students to submit their work to the school publication “Acorns” throughout the year. 

While guest experts often attend the morning meeting, it’s rare for them to lead writing workshops and the school was “happy to make an exception,” said Katy Inman, the head of school. 

Inman noted that Bouwsma is conducting a statewide project on epistolary poems, which are written in letter form. Center for Teaching and Learning fifth- to eighth-graders just recently studied epistolary poems. 

“We loved having the kids meet someone so committed to the power of words,” Inman said. 

At the start of the year, Brita Wanger Morier, a Center for Teaching and Learning parent involved with Maine’s Poetry Out Loud program, urged Inman to apply for a Maine Humanities Council grant. The school board wanted to share its love for literature with the community, and poetry seemed a natural choice.

Inman had recently attended a Maine Council for English Language Arts conference that included a session on epistolary poems presented by Bouwsma and Maya Williams, who is Portland’s poet laureate. Impressed by their delivery, Inman invited both poets to lead public events after receiving the grant.

The first occurred last Tuesday with Bouwsma, and the latter is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 21. 

“Presenting poetry helps students develop skills to engage an audience,” Morier said. “You’re never alone if you have your favorite composition with you.” 

Inman agreed, emphasizing that the human voice is a powerful tool for conveying emotion.

“Listening to poetry out loud allows rhythm and diction to flow differently than it would on the page,” she said. 

A word from aspiring poets

Before the competition, Center for Teaching and Learning students spoke to The Times Record about the poems they chose to present and the takeaways from Bouwsma’s classroom visit. 

Julia Bouwsma, Maine’s poet laureate, assists one of the students in teacher Stacey Adams’s seventh- and eighth-grade humanities class during a writer’s workshop on Dec. 3 at the Center for Teaching and Learning. Stacey Adams photo

Some chose personal works inspired by moving moments, such as eighth-grader Meghan Arnold’s “Invisible Insects” poem about sitting on her grandfather’s porch listening to the cicadas. Similarly, fifth-grader Eleanor Frey’s “Dragonfly” poem was inspired by a brief encounter with the insect as it hovered beside her at summer camp. 

Others, like sixth-grader Adeline Inman, read poems they did not write. For example, she chose to read Billy Collins’ “The Future” because she appreciated his use of metaphor.

When asked about overcoming writer’s block, the aspiring poets shared various tips.

Seventh-grader Jacqueline Branch taught herself to incorporate cadence into poetry. Certain words are pleasing to her, and others are not. By blending words with different tones in her work, she strives to create dynamic compositions. 

On the other hand, eighth-grader Octavia Aurora found Bouwsma’s epistolary method helpful. 

“Writing a letter is so personal,” Aurora said. “Starting a poem that way just makes sense.” 

Enter: Maine poet laureate

In her travels as a poet laureate, Bouwsma has practiced delivering this message: “Writing is about noticing details and expanding on them. It is a way to listen to our feelings and the world and let them resonate within our bodies. Each line break, stanza and caesura represents a pause to breathe. To sit with mystery.” 

Bouwsma isn’t just an ambassador for how language can heal people. She makes a case that poetry can heal the world by fostering community.

Julia Bouwsma, Maine poet laureate, reads an original poem to open the winter poetry competition organized by the Center for Teaching and Learning and sponsored by the Maine Humanities Council on Dec. 3. Laura Sitterly / The Times Record

Visiting the Center for Teaching and Learning, Bouwsma focused on epistolary poetry, emphasizing its intimacy and personal connection. 

In Angela Lathem-Ballard’s fifth- and sixth-grade class, students analyzed “Dear Basketball” by Kobe Bryant for its vivid imagery and “Wishes for Sons” by Lucille Clifton for its open-ended nature. Bouwsma then encouraged young poets to experiment with the method themselves.

“Sometimes it’s hard to get started,” said one of Lathem-Ballard’s students, Nora Ballard. “Julia taught us that you can’t let the fear of imperfection hold you back.” 

Fostering youth engagement with writing began long before Bouwsma published her first book. As a recent college graduate, she worked as a children’s bookseller, and she has served as the director of Webster Library in Kingfield for nearly a decade.

“If you asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would have told you I wanted to be a poet or a pirate,” Bouwsma said. “As a child, I was so excited to build a world out of words — to use my imagination to craft poems and savor the sound and feel of language on my tongue.” 

In addition to organizing the Write ME Epistolary Poetry Project, Bouwsma teaches poetry workshops through groups like the Maine Writers & Publisher Alliance and has served sporadically as an adjunct professor in the University of Maine at Farmington’s creative writing program. 

Writers workshop, with a spin

Lathem-Ballard prepared her class for the poetry competition weeks in advance. Before Thanksgiving break, students were asked to choose poems they felt proud to read aloud.

Flipping through their folders, they identified their favorite poets’ works from the trimester. Lathem-Ballard then paired readers with new poets who matched their interests. For example, one student who liked nature and spirituality was introduced to Mary Oliver.

Nathalie Wilson, a sixth-grader at the Center for Teaching and Learning, reads “Returning Home” — an original poem about a schooner she saw on a school field trip to Burnt Island — at the winter poetry competition on Dec. 3. Laura Sitterly / The Times Record

Eight of Lathem-Ballard’s students entered the contest and practiced reading their work for feedback on vocal projection, tone and pacing during Bouwsma’s visit.

“Julia was relatable, articulate and warm,” Lathem-Ballard said. “A few of (my students) who play on an after-school team connected their experience on the court to Kobe Bryant’s poem we read with her in class.” 

In Stacey Adams’ seventh- and eighth-grade class, Bouwsma also read examples of epistolary poetry, including “Letter” by Langston Hughes, her own “Dear Ghosts, in winter my camp on the hill becomes,” and “Miss you. I would like to take a walk with you,” by Gabrielle Calvocoressi. 

She encouraged the class to write poems starting with “Dear” and addressing their chosen subjects. Afterward, three of Adam’s students who registered for the competition rehearsed their selections.

“Any time a child is invited to share their authentic voice presents chance to feel valued,” Lathem-Ballard said. “Events like these create empowered, confident, conscientious members of society.” 

Adams also believes that students enrich their understanding of poetry as an “instrument for connection” when they read it aloud. She observes them as they work through the challenge of reading enjambed lines, arriving at their own solutions by using their voice.

Poetry as ‘an acute act of listening’

The competition at Skidompha Library in Damariscotta featured 26 participants across 10 Midcoast towns: Newcastle, Bristol, Edgecomb, Boothbay, Boothbay Harbor, Alna, Bath, Damariscotta, Nobleboro and Rockport. 

The event began with participants sharing their original poems at the podium. After a brief recess, recitations of others’ works followed. 

Bouwsma served as the judge for the competition. She recognized four poets in the original category, each of whom received a journal, a book donated by Skidompha Library and a gift certificate to Sherman’s Maine Coast Book Shop. The awarded works were: “The Trees of Edgecomb” by Octavia Aurora, noted for its perspective; “Lady Godiva’s Last Ride” by Bisi Cameron Yee, praised for its cadence, rhythm and sound; “Dragonfly” by Eleanor Frey, recognized for its use of nature imagery and delivery; and “Sequoia” by Neal Lorgen, commended for its vulnerability.

The Center for Teaching and Learning, with support from the Maine Humanities Council, hosted a winter poetry competition open to the public and local student participants at the Skidompha Library from 4:30-6 p.m. on Dec. 3. Laura Sitterly / The Times Record

In the alternative category, Alice Morier received praise from Bouwsma for her delivery of William Carlos Williams’ “Variations on a Theme.” Additionally, Megan Phillips, a third- and fourth-grade teacher at Brightfield School, impressed the audience with her memorized rendition of Robert Frost’s “Birches.”

Inman, who worked hard to engage local schools, was surprised by the turnout. 

“I loved hearing from people of all ages,” Inman said. “Older participants seemed impressed by the seriousness of the young poets, and vice versa. It was as though everyone realized, ‘Oh, you love this, too?’, and the night ended with lots of hugs.” 

The Center for Teaching and Learning has secured funding for a second event at the Skidompha Library from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 21, with Williams, Portland’s poet laureate, as the judge.

Bouwsma recognized the intergenerational nature of the Dec. 3 event. 

“Poetry is an act of acute listening,” Bouwsma said, which is “something we are in desperate need of more.”

At first glance, Bouwsma’s collections “Work by Bloodlight” (2017) and “Midden” (2018) may appear unrelated, but their themes converge around the relationships to place, history, body and personal narrative.

“Work by Bloodlight” is a coming-of-age story in which the speaker dismantles inherited myths about themselves, alternating between younger and older perspectives. “Midden” addresses the forced eviction and erasure of the Malaga Island community in Maine in 1912.

Bouwsma’s third publication, “Death Fluorescence,” will come out in June. She will also release a libretto for a mini-opera over the summer in collaboration with the Halcyon String Quartet and composer Nathan Davis. 

To follow along with her work, visit juliabouwsma.com.