VictoriaB次元官网网址檚 new youth poet laureate fell in love with the art form by accident.

Arriving in the city in 2017 to pursue a double major in creative writing and English at the University of Victoria, Eli Mushumanski had intended to specialize in fiction writing. Class times didnB次元官网网址檛 line up though, and Mushumanski found themself in an unfamiliar space B次元官网网址� a poetry workshop.

B次元官网网址淚t really frustrated me at first, I found it really challenging,B次元官网网址� the 22-year-old recalled. But quickly, that challenge turned from frustration into curiosity and excitement.

Four years on, Mushumanski said theyB次元官网网址檙e still exploring what the medium means to them.

B次元官网网址淚 think my voice is still clarifying. What I write about is still shifting and changing,B次元官网网址� they said. B次元官网网址淚 used to write about myself quite a lot, and while I still do that to kind of touch base with myself, IB次元官网网址檓 looking more outward now and exploring the world around me.B次元官网网址�

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The main issue on MushumanskiB次元官网网址檚 mind now is climate change.

B次元官网网址淚t takes up a lot of brain space, just climate anxiety in general,B次元官网网址� they said, noting poetry offers an outlet to deal with that anxiety and a means to communicate about it.

B次元官网网址淚 think poetry has the potential to slow things down a bit and really focus on smaller aspects of much larger issues.B次元官网网址�

One of MushumanskiB次元官网网址檚 hopes for their year as youth poet laureate is to launch a poetry project in community garden spaces, connecting the power of the art form with nature. Another is to get to know the young poets of Victoria and hear what issues are on their minds.

As the former fiction editor of UVic literary journal, This Side of West, and senior editor of Her Campus at UVic, Mushumanski brings an impressive background to their new position.

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