At the beginning of the Winter 2022 semester, UFV welcomed its newest Writer in residence, Sheri-D Wilson, through the Kuldip Gill Writing Fellowship. Wilson, who had been friends with Gill before her passing in 2009, decided to apply for the fellowship to honour and represent her friend at UFV and to carry on her legacy as a poet. Wilson is a nationally acclaimed poet, having published 13 books, four short films, and four music and poetry albums.
When talking to Wilson, a few things become clear right away: her passion for poetry, love for her work as a ceremonialist, and her overwhelming kindness and determination to make the world better. During a dance class in Banff at age 11, Wilson was hooked on the art form of poetry. This led to a life-long passion for writing which she nourishes to this day and has used to build up both the writing and general community. Through her work she fights for equality and social justice, putting on spoken word festivals in multiple languages which cover topics including violence against women, Indigenous activism, and bullying.
Through the fellowship, Wilson has been made available to UFV students as a guide into the world of poetry and its publication, and as a spiritualist who will support and nourish their creativity while offering sage words of advice. Her best counsel: “do the work. Even when it means you are missing out on something you want to do, do the work. Never not show up. Even if you only write for 15 minutes a day, get into an inspired mode and write.”
When Wilson first got involved with poetry, spoken word did not exist. She travelled to the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics in Boulder, Colorado, and studied with great poets like Michael McClure, Anne Waldman and Allen Ginsberg. She worked with the Beatniks and “analysed how poetry could live in the body and how the physical form can help inform the poetry and also make the poetry come alive.” This was the start of “performative poetry,” though no one knew it at the time.
“People say, ‘Oh, you had a lot to do with [developing spoken word],” said Wilson. “I’m like, I did. I didn’t know I did at the time. At the time, I was just playing and exploring and being wild.”
The idea of wildness is important to Wilson’s vision. In her spare time, she works as a ceremonialist, leading people through the transformative, wild parts of their lives, like birth, marriage, and death. This is represented in her poetry, through her creativity and exploration of difficult ideas, and through her continued building up of community. She has spent her life “fighting for and standing for the equality of people.”
Wilson has become an integral part of Canada’s art community, following her philosophy of doing the work.
“If you do the work, everything else will follow,” said Wilson. “But if you want all the things without doing the work, that will not follow. So you do the work. You get your education, you read the books, you give back, you volunteer, you go in, read your poems at a gallery. Do what’s necessary. Write your bio, show up on time. And if your poem wakes you up in the middle of the night, you get up and you go and write.”
One part of Wilson’s story which acted as a guide for her career as a poet was the understanding that you have to seek out your teachers. They are not going to find you, so you have to pursue them. Get your knowledge “from the people you honour and respect. I pursued those people and studied with them. And I was lucky; they took me under their wing.” Now, as a mentor and teacher for others, Wilson offers insight to young poets and writers who are trying to answer the question “how do you become a poet?”
Wilson said that a student recently told her, “‘It’s such an honour to meet you, because you legitimise me.’ It was kind of ironic, because I was always a cutting edge writer, but she went into a bookstore with her father, and he said, ‘why can’t you be like these writers?’ And she grabbed one of my books off the shelf and said, ‘See? She’s a spoken word artist. She’s here,’ and her dad said, ‘You can use her to legitimise you, then.’ And I thought that was funny, that I am now legit. I have the power, apparently, to legitimise others.”
If you need legitimising, or just a coffee and a chat with a globally recognized spoken word artist, Sheri-D Wilson is available on Tuesdays and Wednesdays between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. until April 1 for office hours. She is available for Zoom or in-person meetings and can be contacted at Sheri-D.Wilson@ufv.ca
“They can come and just have tea. They can come and talk to me and bring their writing. They can talk about life, Kuldip Gill, whatever they like.”
Image: Kimberley French
Allison is starting her BA in English with a minor in Criminology to become a publishing contract lawyer. In her spare time, she watches way too many true crime shows and reads a lot of Y.A. fiction, while slugging along on various articles.
