It was World Poetry Day on March 21! To help us celebrate, we got some of our volunteers from the QMU Masters in Arts, Festival & Cultural Management to curate some world poetry to share with you! (You’ll be treated to poetry by one of our volunteers if you read all the way to the end! It’s worth it. Trust us).

QMU Volunteer Andrea Rašpolić.

Andrea Rašpolić, pictured above, shared this beautiful poem called “You Whose Hands are more Innocent than Mine” by Vesna Parun (translated from Croatian). Andrea loves poetry because it helps us see the beauty in life. It should be shared and celebrated!

QMU Volunteer Alyson Orme.

Alyson Orme shared this poem called “The Orange” by Wendy Cope with us for World Poetry Day. It’s a reminder to appreciate all of the ordinary things in life! Alyson is from Edinburgh and her experience is in events and festival fundraising. She’s doing some research for Push the Boat Out, and she’s excited to have our fresh new festival (her words ❤) to look forward to in the Autumn.

QMU Volunteer Mariachiara Sira.

Mariachiara Sira wanted to share this poem called “Meadows” by Antonia Pozzi (translated from Italian) with us for World Poetry Day. She’s volunteering in our sustainability office and is very excited to work with PTBO because poetry is an art form close to her heart! She’s excited about how we’re displaying poetry in an original way (again, her words ❤) and wanted to share a poem from where she’s from.

QMU Volunteer Saibhe Ciara Ní Bhroic.


Saibhe Brock has had a love for poetry and drama since school, which lead her to study English during her undergrad. She especially loves Irish drama and literature (don’t we all!) including this poem she shared with us called “The Pattern” by Paula Meehan. Saibhe is really excited to be volunteering with PTBO and is looking forward to seeing the directions in which we steer our ship. 

QMU Volunteer Julia Sorensen.

To finish off this World Poetry Day photo frenzy, I’d like to introduce myself, Julia Sorensen! I do all things Instagram, Facebook, newsletter and lots of things website and podcast for PTBO. I’m a Canadian and Poet Laureate of my hometown, so I thought it at least partially appropriate to post some of my own published work. This poem, “an octopus squeezes its brain and I mishandle pears” from a chapbook called “space is silent,” is at least partially about the relationships we have with each other and our planet and how we’re all affecting each other, constantly.