UPPER MERION — Evan Wang reflected on his time as Montgomery County’s inaugural youth poet laureate fondly after settling into a new leadership role as program director.
The 17-year-old Upper Merion Area High School junior from King of Prussia was designated as the county’s resident poet back in 2022 after the program was launched under the umbrella of the Montgomery County Poet Laureate program.
“It’s the most life-changing thing ever,” he said in an interview.
Wang has had quite the creative journey.
“I’ve always had an interest in poetry, but that really took off in eighth grade,” he said.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, verbal and physical actions associated with instances of racism against the Asian American Pacific Islander community were on the rise. It was something Wang experienced one day walking through a park in 2021. He recalled seeing kids on a play set and they called Wang an ethnic slur.
“I was like what did they call me? Was that OK? But then I realized it was not right, and I felt a little angry about it so I wrote an eight-minute-long poem. It was called ‘The Blood we Inherit the Blood we Spill,’” Wang said.
Wang debuted the poem in a recorded video ahead of a school district event focusing on “Asian hate, Asian hate crimes and microaggressions.”
Wang had written poems privately, but this was the first time sharing it with the world.
“That day, I kind of realized this is my first attempt at sharing poetry with the world, but it was such a stellar success (and) grand introduction into poetry,” Wang said.
Wang took inspiration from poets Amanda Gorman and Ocean Vuong, but he’d come to realize that getting into the poetry world was a gift in itself.
“It’s helped give me power to my voice. It actually helped reclaim my voice because I’m a first-generation American. My first language isn’t even English,” Wang said, adding “I was really shy before the poem even blew up.”
But as Wang continued his literary work, he observed a lack of opportunities to connect with other writers and display his talents.
“Living in the suburbs … nothing really happens around here, and as a high schooler, you can really get confined into a certain space, especially as a writer,” he said. “When I first started, there were no opportunities around here. I wanted to share my work. I didn’t know where to submit poems to. There were no mentors, no open mic nights, anything. Teachers didn’t really know what to do with poetry.”
“I really had to go out and seek those opportunities myself, and then … Amanda Gorman became really popular that one year,” he said.
Gorman read an inauguration poem at the ceremony for President Joe Biden in January 2021.
“She’s the whole reason why I wanted to become a youth poet laureate,” he said, adding “what a legacy.”
Wang suggested launching a youth poet laureate initiative during a virtual Indian Valley Arts Foundation Board of Directors meeting in January 2022. He was offered the designation, citing his meeting the criteria of interest, passion and expertise for poetry.
“They told me over a phone call. I was so overjoyed because it was a historical title. They’d never had one before. it was (like) all my dreams came true,” he said.
Wang has continued honing his craft, attending writers workshops at the Iowa Writers Studio and Ohio-based Canon College. He also took his talents to Washington, D.C., visiting the White House, and addressing members of the U.S. Department of Education.
“I was really shy. So when that happened, I was trying to get my footing in speaking in front of a room, but now I can do that really easily. I’ve grown so much with poetry,” Wang said.
Locally, he’s overseen writers’ workshops and organized open mic nights for other youth poets and cultural presentations. The youth program has student participants from area private and public schools, according to Wang, who said they coordinate with several local school districts, including Abington, Methacton and Upper Merion school districts.
While Wang was the inaugural poet laureate, he passed the torch to the newly named Poet Laureate Emi Maeda, a student at the Bryn Mawr-based Baldwin School. As the new youth director, Wang said he wants to cultivate relationships with schools to gain more participation in the Montgomery County Youth Poet Laureate Program. The organization is also seeking funding opportunities from the county, and most recently received a $2,000 grant from Civics Unplugged, a cultural nonprofit out of New York City.
“(I’m) excited for future opportunities for young writers,” he said, “especially in a place like Montgomery County, where literature desperately needs to be revived.”
Wang anticipates that advocacy, mental health, politics, and voting will be key themes for the organization moving forward.
“I’m really hoping to steer the program in a way that really engages with the youth, and brings poetry to the forefront, especially now, since poetry is blossoming across the country. I’m looking forward to ways poetry can interact with other art forms,” Wang said, adding “it’s so important to get youth voices into these spaces.”
