Write to Us: Poets, What do you need?

Feedback forms seem to be a hot topic in the Canadian poetry community currently, and yes, around April Fools Day we put out our own feedback form as a little joke. But jokes, Isabella truly believes from her own lived experiences, hold in them pockets of truths. Sometimes they stem from uncomfortable topics or conversations that need to be had. So let's dissect the "humour" surrounding whatever parodies can be weaved around the infamous feedback form. 
To ask for and receive feedback, there implies a relationship between someone offering a response, and someone who listens. The person asking for feedback is saying, "here are a list of things I want to know, I'd like you to tell me what you think." The person responding is taking their time to answer something they feel is worthwhile answering, knowing feedback will be received; ideally listened to or absorbed. There is a space created, an invitation. There is time spent in offering, in trust. Feedback forms, the way that many operates nowadays, absconds from this relationality. Those asking for feedback are behind a fourth wall. Those offering a response have no way of knowing if there is anyone listening; how their words are valued or interpreted. 

What if however, we can use the convenience and technology of feedback forms to our advantage, and still instill that relationship back? What if we situate the feedback form back into the community? What if relationships, conversations, energy, listening, sharing, serves the basis of community-based feedback forms in ways that are felt? What if we were to say, this isn't just a feedback form; your voice truly matters. We want to hear about your day?

So, as a social experiment, we are launching a bi-monthly feedback form. Here, we are posing a question: poets, what do you need? More specifically, what do you need to be a poet in these times? To breathe easier? To crank out new poems? To be a happy human being? Along these lanes, what is something that a poetry prize with limited but open-ended funding possibilities could offer you to support you as a poet and human being?

Maybe it's something simple. Laundry detergent. A yoyo to keep those neurodivergent, fidgety hands busy. Maybe it's something more substantial: childcare; mortgage payments; a sizeable grant so you can just focus on your art and prosper. Maybe what you need right now isn't material. A breakthrough with that tough poem you are working on. A reader who will understand you and your words and the knowing that your poems have reached someone. A kind gesture. A smile. Just a bit of hope during a hard day or week. Whatever it is, tell us. We are listening. 

We want to listen for the sake of listening. And because, as we are running a prize, we are wondering about what it is that poets truly need. We can offer a certain amount of $$$ and be like, here, use it for something you need. We can offer gift cards for prize winners or a care package for the Super Honourable Mentions winner. But this makes us think about how each person receiving the prizes is different. We don't just want to shove something at you and be like, here, you won. Congrats! We want to offer something that you need, or like. And to do that, we need to ask: what is it that you want? What do you need?

On a smaller scale, this translates a gift box or how Isabella picks a gift card she knows the recipient will use. But as everyone on the board works together in the years ahead, we will think about how to raise funds or apply for grants in the future that most effectively helps us offer what poets most want. This requires more than a one-off feedback form, but a dialogue formed out of respect, relation, and trust over time. As we read your responses, we will keep in mind what folks need the most and work within our capacity to offer through the prize what is beneficial for individuals and the community. We will send out a feedback form every other month, and we invite everyone, to please do share with us what the poets need.
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Yours,
The Phoenix Poetry Board

Caption: Poets, Write to Us. What Do You Need?

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