'These teens are my focus'

MILTON — Four months after the city named him the official poet laureate, Marc Livanos has implemented multiple projects for residents who enjoy poetry.

On Tuesday, Livanos hosted a Halloween party with the group of teens and adults who meet once a week at the Guy Thompson Community Center for a poetry workshop. Here, he reflected on the impact having a poet laureate has made on the community.

At his weekly workshops, Livanos provides the group with a prompt. Club members brainstorm, work together and come up with a poem. The best poem each week is published on MiltonLocal.com.

“They’re so creative, sometimes they come up with their own prompts,” Livanos said.

According to Livanos, the workshop regularly attracts more than a dozen people. He supplies various educational books for the members of the group to use as reference material, and food is always offered since the teens arrive directly after school.

Aside from the weekly workshop, Livanos has made other strides in the local poetry community. He and an adult member of the Milton poetry club recently went on-air 1330AM WEBY Northwest Florida's Talk Radio to read poetry and talk about the group’s progress.

Livanos works with students from Milton High School, and hopes to create a section in the Blackwater Literary Journal for the poetry of the high school students, as well as a poetry section for all residents of Santa Rosa County. Those interested in having their work published can do so by emailing the Santa Rosa County Literary Guild at srcwg@mediacombb.net.

Livanos prints and keeps each poem the members write. He said he commends the teens for writing on topics such as bullies, relationships and racism.

Livanos and members of the poetry group will host a booth at St. Mary’s WinterFest arts and crafts fair on Dec. 2 to advertise their club and attract more participation.

“The mission is to have teens learn how to express thoughts in poetry,” Livanos said. “It’s a process… These teens are my focus.”