These Are the People in Your Neighbourhood is the legacy project of Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada's Poet Laureate Jordan Trethewey. Trethewey spent two years collecting personal stories from willing participants, then turned his notes and thoughts into personalized poems for roughly 80 citizens. What emerges are universal stories of love, loss, longing, work, leisure, birth, death, near-death, and even pets. The result is a book that captures the diversity and spirit of any small city, not just Fredericton. Also included are Trethewey's poems written specifically for Fredericton City Council. They express the concerns of a growing multicultural metropolis, and subjects everyone loves, like Christmas. These Are the People in Your Neighbourhood, also includes beautiful ink and watercolour cityscapes by Fredericton artist Eva Christensen.
"This volume does what poetry, at its best, should do. Poetry of the people, for the people. These Are the People in Your Neighbourhood presents a panorama of individual stories that, when taken together, highlight shared connections that offer us a tangible sense of community. This collection will be a joy to read for the citizens of Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, and the world at large. Bravo to Jordan Trethewey who understands what a poet laureate can do!" - Danny Shot, author of WORKS, and the upcoming JERSEY SLIDE.
"Who among us has taken the time to identify and befriend those individuals who imbue the downtown core with colour? Some people collect beach glass. Jordan Trethewey collects stories from unique individuals whose patina has been softened by life. He then packages these stories in poetic containers, and offers them up for all to see. You can feel the story of Carlos Morales, walk alongside him for a bit, and realize how much better Fredericton is because the fates brought him here. Or you can learn of-and from-Sebastián Salas, who discovered there is no medication for loneliness...you can feel loved, and still feel left behind. Each of Jordan's poems is aggregated and fused into a single piece, creating a photo album, a microcosm of community life. Read the collection. Feel it. Saunter through the downtown core, the Walking Bridge to, or from, the Northside. Meet the people in your neighbourhood: the newcomers, the creatives, the eccentrics. The dreamers." -Chuck Bowie, author of the thriller series, Donovan: Thief for Hire
"I've never visited Fredericton, but reading These Are the People in Your Neighbourhood, I feel as if I've come to know its people. Trethewey becomes a "curator of permanent, meaningful connections," a medium through which Fredericton townsfolk speak to readers as they love and lose, as they parent, work, and face cancer and addiction. Whether it's through a 13-yr-old boy sewing in art class, a pair of roommates flirting with the boys downstairs, an amusement park mascot, a homesick Vietnamese emigree, polyamorous lovers, or a reluctant librarian, a portrait of Fredericton emerges as a vibrant and eclectic mix of folks who've all converged on a "place that welcomes the truth of words." - Kerry Trautman, author of Artifacts, Unknowable Things, and Irregulars
