For Olive Senior, the newly installed Poet Laureate of Jamaica, the current pandemic provides a perfect backdrop for the use of words as a means of therapy and healing for those who have been touched, displaced and ultimately affected by the global health crisis.

Senior, who ascended to the position just over a week ago, takes up the reins of pushing the poetry agenda for the next years by succeeding her predecessors, Lorna Goodison and Professor Mervyn Morris, who were the recent holders of the title since the scheme was restarted by the National Library of Jamaica.

“Basically all our lives have been touched by poetry. At some time or the other we have studied, recited, or have been quoted pieces of poetry as a means of getting us through a bad situation or inspiring us in some way. So I see this opportunity as a good way of taking us back to poetry. I hope to turn Jamaicans to poetry through awareness of what this art form can do. In these times poetry is definitely therapy and can be used for healing. The truth is there is no need for a lot of equipment, all you need are your thoughts and what you have within and you can create,” said Senior.

She noted that once the idea of becoming the next Poet Laureate was put to her, she was pleased with the idea that she could make a difference and is brimming with thoughts, plans and initiatives in fulfilment of this role.

High on her list is the ability to work with young people. This coupled with her other passion, the natural environment, has her all excited about securing the future.

“Part of my mandate is coming with a way of talking about the environment which is a very serious issue for me. It is called eco-poetics and I have development a programme under the slogan ‘I See My Land’ [based on the Jamaican patriotic song I Saw My Land In the Morning]. For me the land was much fairer than it is now and I hope to use this medium to bring the focus on this matter. I will be doing what I can to engage stakeholder individuals and agencies to develop plans and ideas.”

In addition to her eco-poetics platform, Senior will be seeking to engage and empower though her Poet Laureate Workshops as well as the groundwork for the establishment of a National Poetry Archive which will see a database of Jamaican poets reading their work. She is also adamant to foster relations with other areas of the arts including the visual arts, music, dance and drama to bring poetry into these other art forms.

Senior has been a staple in local literary circles for a number of years. A country girl at heart, she has roots in Trelawny, St James, Westmoreland and Hanover where she spent her formative years. She noted that this is what shaped her and what she has spent her life doing, which is writing, something she always knew she wanted to do.

“Writing has given me the world. I am first and foremost a writer. It is what defines me and everything I have done in my life relates to writing… it is what I do,” she declared.

When asked if there is a favourite among her published works, Senior shared that it is her book Summer Lightning which has given her the most pleasure.

“Every piece of work is my favourite until I write the next one and move on. Summer Lightning was my first book and I wrote it in total innocence and it went on to win the Commonwealth Writers Award. Today I have a lot of young writers such as Marlon James who come up to me and say this work influenced them and their desire to become a writer. That makes me pleased. When I consider that it was written when I didn’t know as much as I do now and was still making sense of the world yet I could intuitively hit the right buttons… I am proud of it,” said Senior.