By Dillon Goring
“ POETRY is like second to none when it comes to a song. There are a lot of young poets out there who have been through life‘s experiences. There is so much to share, and the only way to express is through poetry,” Carlene Gill told the Pepperpot Magazine during an interview.

Over many years, poets across the globe have spoken about many issues affecting families and people in general.

These poets have positively lent support to alter the lives of persons for the common good of all.

The Pepperpot Magazine spoke with Gill, who has been involved in poetry ever since she was a child, to get from her the impact of her poetical ability on the lives of people.

Gill has plans to engage the Ministry of Education to bring poetry to the schools, because it is an art to bring hope to persons who are going through difficult life experiences.

“I am hoping that we would be allowed to teach poetry in school and take poetry to another level,” Gill told the Pepperpot Magazine .

She mentioned that there are a lot of topics and social ills that can be solved through the art form of poetry.

This she believes can address most of the domestic issues with which a lot of our children are faced these days, and curb in some way, the prevalent social ills that are constantly on the front burner, particularly in the school system today.

Carlene gets her inspiration from life’s issues
“ Sometimes I read a book, sometimes my own experiences, sometimes you may have an experience that went bad and you write a poem and twist it around to determine which road the situation could have gone, or it is determent [sic] on topical issues occurring in the country at the time,“ Carlene expressed to the Pepperpot Magazine.

Gill is looking forward to engaging the ministry to have a curriculum set regarding not only the teaching of poetry, but also to have programmes in place that integrate poetry.

She noted that she doesn’t believe enough is being done for poetry to be recognised as a part of the art culture in the country.

Over the years, there has been a lot of work done for poetry in Guyana by various personalities, including Martin Carter, among others. Still, for Carlene Gill more emphasis needs to be placed on ensuring that young people become involved.

Gill is currently working on a collection of poems, which she hopes to publicise nationally, and she intends to go a long and far way with poetry for as long as she is alive.
According to Gill, poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape of personality.