Poet Guyleigh Johnson takes on north-end Dartmouth stereotypes
Moira Donovan | CBC News | Posted: October 31, 2016 11:00 AM | Last Updated: October 31, 2016
'We feel that nobody would ever understand us but it's because we don't talk,' says poet
A north-end Dartmouth poet says writing saved her life, and she's hoping her work can encourage other young people to find a positive outlet for their pain.
Guyleigh Johnson's first book of poetry, Expect the Unexpected, will be released on Nov. 10.
Johnson, 23, told CBC's Information Morning she started writing seriously as a teenager after the death of a close family member in a car crash.
"It saved my life at a time when I could have gone down a different path … but I just chose to write," she said.
"That was a way of expressing myself, of getting out everything that I had to say."
Inspired by community
For her debut anthology of poetry Johnson said she was inspired by members of the north-end Dartmouth community.
"I love connecting with people and … trying to express their emotions, put my feet in their shoes. I love trying to see life from their perspective," she said.
"I wanted to share their truth."
Confronting stereotypes
But Johnson said not everyone has shared that empathy for her community. Many people associate north-end Dartmouth with high rates of poverty and crime, she said.
"Any time somebody asks me where I'm from, the moment I say it you can see the facial expression change right away," Johnson said.
"Why do people feel like that? It's like we don't celebrate the good enough or we just judge people right away."
'We don't talk'
Many of the poems in Johnson's anthology address difficult subjects such as incarceration, police violence and personal heartbreak. That was intentional, she said.
"I feel like that's the stuff we try and stay away from," she said.
"A lot of the time we don't talk about what's actually going on … and we feel that nobody would ever understand us but it's because we don't talk."
Despite the seriousness of the subject matter, Johnson said she hopes people reading her poetry or hearing it performed take away a message of hope.
"Especially within this generation, we need to find outlets that will stop [people from] seeking other ways like violence or different lifestyles," she said.
"There's going to be hard times but as long as you have hope you'll get through them."