The city as muse: Who will be Johnstown’s poet laureate?

A search for the city’s lyrical voice has officially begun.

In an effort to name a poet laureate for the City of Johnstown, a small group of writers and other artists are accepting poetry submissions through Jan. 31. The process is being headed by Asa Ana, an artist who lives in Ferndale, and Eric Schwerer, associate professor of the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown’s creative and professional writing program.

“This particular project is of interest of me because I’m encouraged by how people are nostalgic of the region but also believe in its future,” said Ana, a Pittsburgh native who did his graduate work at Carnegie Mellon University.

“(Poetry provides) a better understanding of how we live and how we look at our community. It has a different cadence in terms of how we understand language.”

Ana, Schwerer and a few other volunteers are to review the poetry submissions and select 10 finalists. Nationally renowned poets Jim Daniels and Toi Dericotte, both of Pittsburgh, are then to choose a winner.

The person named poet laureate is to be recognized during an award ceremony in the spring. This event is to include a mayor’s proclamation, followed by a brief reading by the poet and a parade or party in downtown Johnstown.

In addition, CamTran buses are to showcase the laureate’s poem and other submissions from those who applied to the contest.

This initiative isn’t an entirely new concept to Ana, who’s worked in social practice and conceptual art in a variety of locations, including the historically violent city of Porto Alegre, Brazil. Ana said his goal there — and now in Johnstown — is to bring people together and activate social change.

A few of his efforts, he added, took place in communities just outside of Pittsburgh.

“What are the consequences of a community that connects to an industry that’s no longer there? We challenged community members to create a new monument that was not related to the steel industry,” Ana said.

The contest is open to people of all ages and backgrounds who live in the ZIP codes of 15901, 15902, 15904, 15905, 15906, 15907 or 15909.

Those interested in participating are asked to send a previously unpublished poem in a .doc file to schwerer@pitt.edu. The body of the email should also include an autobiographical statement of no more than 500 words.

Anyone who doesn’t have access to a Word processor or email can send their poem and autobiographical statement in a stamped envelope to Schwerer at 223a Biddle Hall, UPJ, 450School House Road, Johnstown, PA, 15904.

Schwerer said he’s excited to be part of the process.

“I am passionate about poetry; and I enjoy any thing that helps to grow Johnstown’s art scene. Poems from Johnstown residents are starting to arrive to our website and our UPJ addresses, and our panel of community members who will read these poems is starting to take shape,” Schwerer said.

“Once the national poets choose a winner and our Mayor decrees that winner Poet Laureate, we’ll see what happens next — maybe our winner will be a sixteen-year-old from Moxham who grows up to change the world with her words.”

Because the title of poet laureate is lifelong, the winner is expected to remain an advocate of poetry, continue to write and share his or her work with others and encourage others to do the same. The poet laureate is also to receive informal support from Pitt-Johnstown faculty, other professional writers and additional members of the community.

For more information visit https://www.poetjohnstown.com.