Poet Guyleigh Johnson takes on north-end Dartmouth stereotypes

A north-end Dartmouth poet says writing saved her life,and she's hopingher work can encourage other young people to find a positive outlet for their pain.

Guyleigh Johnson's first book of poetry, Expect the Unexpected,will be released on Nov. 10.

Johnson, 23,told CBC's Information Morning she started writing seriously as a teenagerafter the death of a close family member in a car crash.

"It saved my life at a time when I could have gone down a different path but I just chose to write," she said.

"That was a way of expressing myself, of getting out everything that I had to say."

Inspired by community

For her debut anthology of poetryJohnson said she was inspired by members of the north-end Dartmouth community.

"I love connecting with people and trying to express their emotions, put my feet in their shoes. I love trying to see life from their perspective," she said.

"I wanted to share their truth."

Confronting stereotypes

But Johnson said not everyone has shared that empathy for her community.Many people associate north-end Dartmouthwith high rates of poverty and crime, she said.

"Any time somebody asks me where I'm from, the moment I say it you can see the facial expression change right away," Johnson said.

"Why do people feel like that? It's like we don't celebrate the good enoughor we just judge people right away."

'We don't talk'

Many of the poems in Johnson's anthology address difficult subjects such as incarceration, police violenceand personal heartbreak. Thatwas intentional, she said.

"I feel like that's the stuff we try and stay away from," she said.

"A lot of the time we don't talk about what's actually going on and we feel that nobody would ever understand usbut it's because we don't talk."

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Despite the seriousness of the subject matter, Johnson said she hopes people reading her poetryor hearing it performedtake away a message of hope.

"Especially within this generation, we need to find outletsthat will stop [people from] seeking other ways like violence or different lifestyles," she said.

"There's going to be hard timesbut as long as you have hope you'll get through them."