Arlington's New Poet Laureate: Poetry Can Heal In Chaotic Times
ARLINGTON, VA — When Hollynd Karapetkova learned that she had been selected as Arlington County's poet laureate, she saw it as a wonderful piece of good news and positive recognition at a time when everything in the world seemed so chaotic.
"I'm really grateful that Arlington has gone ahead with this program in spite of all the chaos that's unfolding," she said. "I actually did my interview for the poet laureate position over Zoom because we were already in quarantine. So, even as I was interviewing, I knew even if I received the honor, it was going to be a very different kind of laureateship than in the past."
Succeeding Arlington's first poet laureate, Katherine E. Young, Karapetkova's two-year appointment officially began July 1. In her new role, she will work with Arlington's Cultural Affairs staff to develop programming designed to engage audiences of all ages in poetry.
"It's also a time of great wounding and need," she said. "We're dealing with both the COVID virus and also the horrific social injustice and racism that's been a part of our society for so long, but it's just erupting now."
Many people are feeling wounded and vulnerable, according to Karapetkova, and poetry can be a way for them to heal and come together despite their differences.
"Poetry and the arts bring people together in a positive, creative space, as opposed to a destructive space," she said. "One thing about poetry that's different from other arts is that it's truly democratic. You don't need anything special to write poetry. You don't even know how to write, honestly, because traditionally poetry is an oral form. And it's accessible and open to anyone who needs it."
Karapetkova is the author of two award-winning books of poetry, "Towline," which won the Vern Rutsala Poetry Prize from Cloudbank Books; and "Words We Might One Day Say," which received the Washington Writers’ Publishing House Prize for Poetry. She lives in Arlington with her husband and two children.
Writing poetry was something that came to Karapetkova very early in life. "I was kind of a smart, weird kid," she said. "I didn't really fit in, and poetry was a way for me to explore the difficulties that I was going through as a young person."
For many years, Karapetkova used poetry as a form a psychological healing, and her parents were happy that she wrote poetry for fun. But they were also practical people and told her she needed to find a real job.
After starting out as an engineering and math major at college, Karapetkova realized that what she really wanted to do was write. "I loved writing," she said. "I loved language. I loved literature, so I ended up majoring in English."
Along the way, Karapetkova earned a Master of Fine Arts degree and a doctorate, which led to her career as an educator.
"Fortunately for me, I found out that I loved teaching," she said. "Teaching's a great passion of mine. I was fortunate to find a job her at Marymount University, where teaching is a huge part of our mission. ... We care tremendously about the quality of instruction we are providing."
As a professor in the Department of Literature and Languages, Karapetkova teaches a variety of classes, but her favorite is freshman composition.
"One of the things I really enjoy is working with students who have writing anxiety or who've been told they can't write," she said. "For me, as a writer, everyone can write. Everyone can write poetry. It's not rocket science. There's no magic formula. It's an expression that's open to everyone."
Many people when they were growing may have been told that writing was difficult or that they could never do it. Karapetkova believes that anyone can learn to write well.
"One of my great joys of my job is I get to help people to correct some of the myths that they've been taught about writing, to overcome writing anxiety and to learn how to write really well, really functionally," she said.
Karapetkova is honored to have been chosen Arlington's poet laureate and excited to be representing poetry, which she calls the great love of her life.
"I'm also really grateful to live in a county that supports the literary arts and arts in general, and that recognizes the importance of this kind of position," she said.
This article originally appeared on the Arlington Patch
