The Hyland Memorial Session at the Festival of Words — moderated by local poetry magnate Robert Currie — featured poets Billy Ray-Belcourt and Alasdair Rees, representing the youth and future of poetic perspectives.
Rees is currently the youth poet laureate of Saskatchewan, with the Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild, which is the first program of it's kind in the country. Rees describes the happenstance of the position’s inaugural appointment as perfectly timed with his personal journey as a poet.
As he is bilingual, Rees writes his poetry in both French and English and admits that the language changes the way his poetry sounds — his French sees more academic language, whereas his English work is more conversational.
During the session, Rees read excerpts of his spoken-word poetry, much of which involves the existence in a modern society of technology in which the written word transcends.
The last work Rees shared was a poem from a new series he is working on, inspired by the rise and fall of Youtube genres, which he described as “blooming and dying like wildflowers, so in writing these poems I’m trying to grasp them a little bit, while they still exist.”
This poem, inspired by ASMR videos, featured Rees skillfully recreating the raspy tone and rounded syllabic rhythm of the genre.
The panel featured both artists with a firm grasp on the present, and the ever-shifting concepts on identity in society and technology — complementing each other a representing the modern perspectives who are engaging in the poetic community.
