Building a stronger Northern Ontario arts community!
Kyla Heyming
Sudbury’s Poet Laureate
The city of Greater Sudbury’s 7th Poet Laureate, Kyla Heyming (KPH) is a bilingual writer that sets her soul in ink and paper with the help of her typewriter. Author of “For Those I Have Loved”, her poetry and non-fiction have appeared in a number of arts and literature journals. Her poems “Poet” and "How to Speak to my Mother" have been featured in the League of Canadian Poets’ “Poetry Pause”. Happy to be home once more in the North, she works tirelessly to help build the local literary community and to make it shine.
Don’t Be Shy, dit “Hi!”
Listen, même si tu ne comprends pas
ce que je te dis,
tu comprends ce que je feel.
This is real;
what’s happening now
c’est l’art qui saute des leaps and bounds
so that those who might’ve felt lost
now feel found.
C’est l’art mon ami!
Que tu écrives, que tu paint,
que ta voix soit forte ou faint,
on t’écoute, on t’entend, on te comprend
in a way that only art can make you feel understood.
Je switch d’un mot à l’autre,
faute d’être bilingue mais fière de le faire
because it’s my art, mon point de repère.
How can we not find our voice
au sein de nos paires
tout autant passionés que nous?
You and I,
full of Northern pride
are gathered here to share
nos façons de faire with others.
Don’t be bothered,
don’t hold back,
the fact is qu’on est ici pour une raison.
Parlons de notre pourquoi;
parlons de notre vécu;
but most of all
partageons notre cœur
dépourvu de connexion
over the last few years
and the last hundred miles.
We are not deterred by the distance
but rather resilient
à l’idée de se retrouver.
Hello,
bonjour,
contente de ton retour,
j’ai hâte de passer ces prochains jours
with you.