avery r. young

Second of two parts looking at Chicago Poet Laureate avery r. young

Chicago’s poet laureate knows the power — and limitations – of words.

“A poem ain’t a bullet,” said avery r. young, who is a poet, artist, educator and entertainer. “They both have the power to change lives, but you can’t show up to a battlefield with a poem. I’ve taught babies on Friday and read poems and sang songs at their funerals the next week.

“They were hit by bullets not for them. That is nothing I would wish on nobody. I am a poetry teacher showing up at funerals seeing these parents who have lost their child to senseless violence.”

Poet Laureate young believes that violence can be stemmed in the city, but it must be a dedicated effort.

“There has to be an opportunity in place to shift the energy,” young said. “If you don’t have the proper resources to deter violence, it is never going to happen.”

He said he can play a role in getting young people to deal with their emotions through words instead of weapons.

“As poet laureate, I can convince them that they have poems inside them, to get them to draw on something, that they don’t have to shoot somebody,” young said. “Those are the things I can help them navigate.”

While a potential peacemaker, young said he can also be a rabblerouser.

“I am in the tradition of artists who use art to stir sh– up,” he said. “Poets are the ones to tell what really is happening. I have no agenda.

“Through poetry, I can tell you how I feel. I do not have to keep things non-bias. The raw story is what I will tell you.”

As the city’s first poet laureate, young has a two-year term and was given $50,000 for the commissioning of new poems and to create public programming, including programs for youths and students. The poet laureate serves as an ambassador for the city’s literary and creative communities.

Growing up in the North Austin neighborhood, young said, violence was something that everyone experienced.

“I did see a lot of things. There were young men and women we didn’t all hit 19 together, we didn’t all hit 21 together, we didn’t all hit 30 together,” young said. “We lost them through violence, mental illness, them being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

He said he couldn’t help but remember friends lost to gun violence when he was installed as the city’s poet laureate.

“By age 19, I had lost a couple friends who I was really tight with,” young said. “I wish they saw me when I became poet laureate. I wish they all could have been there.”

The poet laureate credits the bite of Chicago’s winters with keeping him on the right path.

“I was given the opportunity to sling dope, but it was winter. I said, ‘It’s too cold,’ young remembered, laughing. “If that opportunity had been given to me in May, I would probably be in the ground today.

“At any point, you have to articulate how you are going to navigate through the world.”

The artist said he would have difficulties in picking just one medium as an outlet for his creativity.

“People do not understand my journey … I can’t live in the limits the world puts on people. I wouldn’t trade writing; I would not know myself,” young said. “I would not trade visual arts; they provide me with a lot of motivation … I never see just one thing … I am not just a singer, an actor, a poet. I do what I want to do.”

kbeese@chronicleillinois.com