Needham resident Anne Nydam was introduced last week as the town’s first poet laureate. She made her first official appearance at the Dec. 3 Select Board meeting and expressed excitement about being an ambassador for poetry as a tool to connect people. “I think it’s going to be a great way to help pull the community together,” she said.
Nydam was introduced by Needham Free Public Library Director Rob MacLean, who was part of the selection committee for the position. He said they were impressed both by the quality of her poetry and her commitment to Needham. “She had this real commitment to the community, and I think that’s the exciting part for us,” he said. “Poetry is one thing, and it’s the important thing, but creating a stronger Needham by enhancing community events with poetry and the power of the work that Anne does, it’s going to be really exciting.”
The new position draws on Nydam’s background in art and poetry and her work in Needham. She has written and illustrated a number of books and does block printing in addition to writing poetry. She has played an active role in Needham Open Studios and taught creative writing workshops in the town’s schools. She says people often think they don’t know much about poetry, but she likes to point out that it’s everywhere. “We’re swimming in it. Song lyrics and proverbs and sayings and stupid advertising jingles and everything.”Â
Nydam says humans are hard-wired to respond to the elements of language that make poetry, such as rhyme and rhythm and alliteration. “It’s got this special ability like art and music to connect people because we respond to it in this special way,” she said.
The idea for a poet laureate came from Town Manager Kate Fitzpatrick, and Nydam’s appointment makes Needham one of more than a dozen towns in the state to have the position. “The intent of the Poet Laureate program is not only to promote public awareness of poetry but to enhance the cultural identity of our town and to celebrate its unique history, traditions and values through poetry,” Fitzpatrick said in announcing the program. It will be administered by library staff working with the office of the town manager, who will help Nydam plan programs and events. The one-year volunteer role is supported with a $500 stipend from the Needham Council for Arts and Culture.
Because it’s new, Nydam said they will be “kind of making it up as we go along” and welcome ideas that build on the library’s existing poetry programs. She said she would like to create opportunities for people to share poems in a variety of ways, from carrying them in their pockets to using them as prescriptions for how they’re feeling. And she hopes to tap into a wide range of poetry from many languages and cultures. “I think that would be awesome if people can share poems from their own backgrounds, because Needham has such a great diversity,” she said.
Ultimately Nydam says poetry can help people see what they have in common and notice what’s around them that connects them.
“I kind of have a mission in life, I think, to call out moments of joy, moments of wonder, and get us to hold them up and share them with each other,” said Nydam. “To give each other hope when we’re having a tough time. To say, ‘Yeah, awful things happen, but there’s also these other ways we can connect.’”
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