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Awards
Cadence Weapon named Poet Laureate
By CMU Editorial | Published on Thursday 28 May 2009
I know, you’ve only just got over the news that Duffy has been named Poet Laureate here in the UK. And now rapper Cadence Weapon has been awarded the title too; albeit for his home town of Edmonton in Canada (and yes, we do realise it wasn’t that Duffy who got the title over here).
Cadence Weapon, real name Roland Pemberton, was sworn in as the Alberta capital’s chief poet at Edmonton City Hall on Tuesday and will officially become the third person to take on the post on 1 Jul, taking over from poet and academic ED Blodgett.
Pemberton told The Edmonton Journal: “By appointing me they’re taking a chance. To me it represents an opportunity to change the view of Edmonton. If people see me as representing Edmonton maybe it will give them an overall different perception. I think that’s a positive thing. And it’s getting people talking. I’m excited. At first I thought, ‘well, I don’t know’. Poet laureate – whoa. Getting heavy. Do I need a staff, and a big grey beard? But then I actually starting thinking about what I do already, and most of my content is about Edmonton. Most of the music I’ve put together comes from a very specific regional source. And I feel like I can just expand that into the poetry as well. It’s basically another outlet for the writing I’m already doing, and I can focus it even more now”.
He added that he’s ready for anyone who thinks he shouldn’t be in the role: “If anybody has any problems, we’ll have a poem battle. A poem-off”.
Unfortunately, the first person to have a problem with Pemberton’s appointment seems to be his predecessor, who told The Globe And Mail that he “didn’t think that this was how a poet laureate was to be defined”. Although the city’s first Poet Laureate, Alice Major, said that she thought it was a “really interesting and wonderful appointment”.
At his inauguration, Pemberton read a poem entitled ‘Valley Girls’, which is apparently a tribute to the river valley and the transience of youth. As Edmonton’s Poet Laureate, a post he will hold for two years, Pemberton will be expected to reflect life in the city through a series of at least six poems and will receive an annual sum of $5000.
