Joanna Young: October Writer-in-Residence
Who Happen Up the Hill*
Poet Joanna Young is one of two Millay House Writers-in-Residence this year.
Earlier this month Millay House Rockland announced the two 2025-2026 Writer’s-in-Residence chosen by juror Gretel Ehrlich. Local poet Joanna Young will be in residence for the month of October 2025, and she recently sat down with Kyle Laurita of the Midcoast Villager for a talk.
Joanna Young was raised in Quincy, Massachusetts, and now lives in Searsport, although she has roots in Vinalhaven. A member of the Wheelbarrow School of Poetry in Belfast, Young has been writing poetry for most of her life. Last week it was announced that Young is one of two recipients of the Millay House Writer-in-Residence distinctions for 2025. The Millay House residency program is open to writers of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, screenplays and expository journalism; this year, finalists were judged by the poet and writer Gretel Ehrlich. Young's residency will constitute the month of October, during which she will stay in the Millay House in Rockland and work on her writing.
In terms of the Wheelbarrow School of Poetry, I had almost four years of feedback saved. This big folder. And so I thought, “OK, maybe this is a time to look at them.” And it was — if I say a revelation, I don’t mean to be melodramatic — but now I had perspective. These were not hot off the press. I could look at them objectively. And of the 10 poems I submitted to the Millay residency, eight of them I edited based on commentary from that group. And I could just see them getting stronger and more taut and better. And I also could feel myself bringing that consciousness into my own writing.
I was saying to my husband Jim just the other night — it was a great luck of the draw to get this. I’m new to all of this, meaning sending work out into the world. But, another judge could’ve looked at my work and been, like, “What is this all about?” But, it was in her wheelhouse: The love of the environment, the sense of the mystical in the environment, the sense of a calling. All of that is in my poetry, I believe. And that would be something that would really be in Gretel Ehrlich’s neighborhood. So, she had a natural affinity. So, I lucked out in getting someone who would have a sympathetic ear to my writing, if you know what I mean.
I was on an Anne Sexton kick, decades ago, and there was something about Linda Sexton’s memoir on her mother that just stayed with me. And so, many years ago, on PBS, there was a one-man play called “Tru,” about Truman Capote. It was literally one person, on stage, for however long the play was. And it was mesmerizing. And I think what blew me away was how he populated that stage with other people, all through imagination. Through imagination, you saw them. And I thought, “Could I do that? Could I create a one-person play that would be that compelling, that interesting?” And so, I began in the last several months writing a play about Anne Sexton. And that’s one of the projects I’m going to take to the Millay Residency.
My understanding is, the Millay House doesn't expect you to feel like you’re chained to it. In other words, if you want to — if it’s a beautiful day, and you want to take a ferry ride over to the island — go ahead and do it, but there is an expectation that if you’re going to be given this incredible opportunity of space and time, you do respect it and you take it seriously.
There’s five initial judges. And they eliminate people and eliminate people and eliminate people and get it down to — well, I think they got it down to a dozen that they then forwarded on to Gretel. But the applicants were all professional, you know? One’s a teacher in Augusta, they’re all professional writers and teachers and educators. So, you have to get through that first jump — five hurdles of people passing you along. And my husband actually applied and he got to the semi-finals. We joke about that.
• Title taken from the poem “Tavern” by Edna St. Vincent Millay
