Natalie Nickerson’s name has been in the local news quite a bit lately.
She’s hoping you’ll see it a lot more for the next 24 months.
Nickerson has just been chosen as the Comox Valley’s new poet laureate.
Her term will “officially” begin April 1, with the hand-off of the title, from Kevin Flesher, who cedes the title after his own two-year term.
Nickerson credits Jan Zwicky for leading her into the world of poetry.
“I went back to school in 2010 and went to North Island College to take liberal studies. During my liberal studies degree I had to do a dissertation, and the person I chose to write about is Jan Zwicky.
“I am very fascinated by philosophy and she is a philosopher/poet, so it was right up my alley.
“Her philosophical books are written in a much different way than the logical, analytical style that is familiar to western philosophy. The whole thrust of her project is to show that meaning can be displayed in ways other than the logic, analytic way.”
It was then that Nickerson realized how much meaning poetry can have.
“She really got me so inspired in poetry as an art form that has the capacity for carrying profound wisdom. That’s the message I want to pass along. Poetry has the ability to take ordinary things, ordinary experiences, and turn them into something deeper.”
Even the setting for this Coffee With interview had a poetic stroke of serendipity.
The meeting took place at the Bayside Café, as suggested by Record staff. Turns out, it is where Nickerson had her first job, upon arriving in the Comox Valley in 1998. She was a barista at Joe Read’s Bookstore and Internet Café.
“I was tree-planting in the Interior, but we felt a little landlocked. I grew up on Lake Huron… we (she and her partner at the time) thought, ‘Where could we go?’ and some friends of ours were talking about the Island and mentioned that we might really like Courtenay. So we came here for a vacation and everything just fell into place. We met the loveliest people, found work, and decided, ‘Let’s do it’.”
She’s found even more “work” now, for the next two years.
Her goal, as poet laureate?
“I would like to see more of a poetic presence in the Comox Valley. I really believe in the power of poetry to change our consciousness. I want to spread the word, through (media) presence, workshops, and to help people who think that maybe they are not a poet, to help them realize that anyone can be a poet.
“I am so passionate about this artistic form. It is an art form, but there is not the exposure to it like art galleries. It’s not something that we really talk about as a culture. So it would be great to open the conversation up.”