Above: Amy Leah Solomon-Minarchi was selected to be Olympia's first poet laureate. About the position, Solomon-Minarchi says, “It’s not about me - it’s about uniting people in Olympia. I can do this because I care about Olympia and people’s stories….”
In an interview with Little Hollywood, Solomon-Minarchi explores her role, youth and military life voices, current events,
and the culture of Olympia
By
Janine Gates
The City of Olympia now has its first poet laureate,
Amy Leah Solomon-Minarchi.
Based upon the recommendation of a city arts selection
committee, the Olympia city council appointed Solomon-Minarchi to the new position
on Tuesday.
Solomon-Minarchi sat down with Little Hollywood on Friday to speak about the position, and share her thoughts about the meaning and purpose of poetry, youth and other voices that are not often heard, and the changing culture of Olympia.
Even in an interview, Solomon-Minarchi’s words are eloquent, well-chosen, and quietly spoken, capturing powerful images.
Solomon-Minarchi, an English, creative writing, and philosophy teacher for 11th and 12th graders at North Thurston High School, is also the advisor for the school’s “Write Club,” and advisor and publisher of the school’s literary magazine, “The Art of Words.”
She is also a choreographer at the school, designing and implementing dances with students for the school musical and Spring Arts Showcase productions.
A member and student of the Richard Hugo House in Seattle, Solomon-Minarchi received her undergraduate degree from Rutgers University, and received her master’s in teaching degree from The Evergreen State College in 2010. She has won many honors and awards.
Solomon-Minarchi grew up in New Jersey and has lived in Olympia for eight years. She is expected to fulfill her duties for two years and will receive a $1,000 stipend per year.
“Olympia’s diverse populations are at a serious
crossroads in which no one dare cross the road. Let poetry be the place where
we enter the crosswalk,” Solomon-Minarchi said in her application.
She proposed a program called, “I Hear Olympia Singing,” in which she says she will build community through poetry, offering literary arts workshops with the schools that have the least resources
and highest need for art programs and enrichment.
She also envisions writing contests and readings with
outreach to Community Youth Services and Olympians at large to elevate
perception and engagement in the growing downtown arts core.
Her Writing the City program would hold open calls for
short poems, a semi-annual public art display, and a monthly walking tour and
writing series that will take students to rotating spaces around the city to
practice capturing sensory imagery and sound.
Ultimately, at the end of her term, Solomon-Minarchi
says she would work toward editing an anthology of poems that captures Olympia
“in all its burgeoning flux that will celebrate the local and rich working
history of Olympia and the new, five-story culture of artist lofts, convention
centers and Seattle transplants buying property in cash, who look with wide
wonder at the eclectic promise of growing roots here.”
Solomon-Minarchi was chosen out of 10 applicants by a committee of five individuals who met for one and a half hours to discuss the applications. Little Hollywood was at the October 27 meeting to observe the selection process.
When they arrived at their decision, they said Solomon-Minarchi, “….has an energy that sets her apart from the others…she’s youth focused and very approachable and accessible. Her poetry is so place-based….She’s someone who will grow the (poet laureate) program and engage us….good presence….Her Writing the City program is so cool….”
The suggestion to have a city poet laureate arose out of a committee referral in 2015 and proceeded through the city’s arts advisory committee to promote poetry as an art form and contribute to a sense of place.
Johnson and the committee looked at the selection process paved by other cities such as Tacoma, Fresno, and Reno. Outreach was done through the city website, the city’s Arts Digest email list, the Olympia Poetry Network, and the Old Growth Poetry Network.
Solomon-Minarchi’s poem, Suburban Danger, was one of the poems she submitted to the arts committee for consideration.
It was inspired, she said, by a brief brush with a
speeding car while walking a baby and big dog through the crosswalk at 7th
Avenue SE and Boundary, in Olympia’s eastside neighborhood.
Suburban
Danger
Cars
speed past pedestrians in crosswalks
while
babies stain Snugglies, dogs strain leashes
drivers
yell, 900 points, and mean it.
Mount
Rainier so majestic, could we climb it if
the
tsunami hits? Better yet seek the water tower
pack
the power bars, guzzle Powerade
and
wait to be saved. Or if it erupts
could
we outrun the lava flow in our
Prius?
Would we run out of gas mid-flee?
If
only my mother were here. We could
be
generations until the white waves
Wash
us out to sea, or the red hand claims us.
Above: Chum salmon make their journey back to spawn last week at McLane Creek Nature Trail in Olympia. Stream Team salmon stewards explained how baby salmon “imprint” on the water in their home stream. When they migrate back from their stay in the ocean, biologists believe they recognize the smell of McLane Creek by its distinctive smell.
Solomon-Minarchi was asked what she feels South
Sound youth need to express, and what poetry might mean to them.
“Young people have a lot to share. They have a
treasure trove of stories to tell. Poetry is an efficient way to get out their
emotions. Students are working on how their voices have meaning, because, as they
are growing and developing, at 16 - 17, this is the time they are playing with
their voice. They are saying, ‘What does this mean?’ And once they graduate,
they are just like little fish in a huge ocean.
“What poetry might
mean to them is finding a way to look around themselves, ground themselves, and
face the emotions they are feeling and chronicle the new experiences they are
having, whether it is college, a job, relationships…it’s all funny, strange,
and new.
“They are also figuring out when to tell their stories,
what’s relevant, and how much to share. You know, you’ve got students that just
want to tell you every little thing, and others hold it all in and lock it up in
a box.
“The role of poetry, or a teacher of writing, is to give them space to be able to sort out those emotions together. They are in a community. They are not alone. Storytelling is powerful and the cultures that last have stories to tell, pass on, and are meaningful. Then there’s the question of how to tell the story. There’s not just one way….”
“The role of poetry, or a teacher of writing, is to give them space to be able to sort out those emotions together. They are in a community. They are not alone. Storytelling is powerful and the cultures that last have stories to tell, pass on, and are meaningful. Then there’s the question of how to tell the story. There’s not just one way….”
Asked what local or national poetry she appreciates,
Solomon-Minarchi mentioned the art of Elizabeth Austen, a recent Washington State Poet Laureate, who wrote the chapbook, Every
Dress a Decision, a finalist for the 2012
Washington State Book Award in poetry.
She also mentioned the poetry of Brian Turner, a noncommissioned
officer in the Iraq War.
Solomon-Minarchi says she will capture the voices of
veterans, not because she is one, but because her husband is, and she wants to honor
them with an open heart.
“For those who care for veterans, it’s not an easy
job – there’s heartache, longing, uncertainty. I’d like to provide a
counterpoint voice to say, ‘Hey, this is what it was like back home….”’
There’s also a place for Walt Whitman. “When I ask
students to read his poetry, I get groans,” she laughed. “They ask, ‘How do I
relate to him?’” Solomon-Minarchi says that is a valid response.
“I know that my love of poetry comes from the
generative process of writing, and writing together with people, being able to see
the same thing – going to Percival Landing and looking out onto the Sound.
“My
poem might be very, very different from the person sitting next to me, and yet
we both share that experience and that brings us together. Part of what I want to do is have
open-mic at the Olympia Farmer’s Market. It takes courage to say it in front of
others and celebrate our voice in the moment.”
Briefly touching upon the city’s current events, Solomon-Minarchi
said she was watching Tuesday evening’s city council meeting from home, and
heard Olympia Police Chief Ronnie Roberts’ comments about the Port of Olympia and the recent rail
blockade of a Union Pacific train by protesters in downtown Olympia.
“Being in this position right now will be very
interesting. We have stories, but we are also making stories together. There is
fear in the unknown, and what kind of direction Olympia is going to go in….We
see the tall buildings going up and we’re missing our small town….
“The culture
will change, and there’s a lot of emotion about that, whether it’s anxiety
about how that will play out, and whether we’ll be able to keep the things that
make us different, like being able to go down to the railroad track at 4:00
a.m. and say, ‘This is not ok.’ This is real. Over the next two years, we want,
through poetry, to capture the identity of Olympia, the changing of Olympia, and
what brings us together.”
Above: Children and parent volunteers from Roosevelt Elementary School observe the salmon run at McLane Creek Nature Trail last Thursday afternoon in Olympia. A group of older children from North Thurston High School were also on the trail, and were being encouraged by a teacher to “....zoom out and sketch the greater ecosystem....”
