An Opus to Youth Workers: A Community is a Song
On May 7, 2026, YouthREX commemorated #YouthREXat10 with a special online event, continuing a 10-year tradition of co-creating spaces for the Ontario youth sector to learn and reflect together about the possibilities and limitations of youth work. This event featured a performance of a specially commissioned spoken-word poem by Eddie Lartey, award-winning poet, creative, and author. In An Opus to Youth Workers, Eddie draws on metaphors and imagery about music to paint a picture of what youth workers do and what their work is really like.
—
What is a community if not a song
An orchestrated chaos
A series of corridors and choruses
What is a community if not a playground for noise
Or a playlist of cultures
What is a song if not a series of bridges meant to connect people
A sound shelter for the broken hearted
What is a song if not a cure for loneliness
What is a song if not a set of keys that remind you where you come from
Home for a voice
Or a home with a voice
A community is a beautiful song we carry with us
Only we know the words
The buzz of barbershops
The percussion of pedestrians
The chime of commuters
A metropolis melody
A daily dance of struggle and joy
A mosaic of music
Caught somewhere between hymn and hum
An intersection of reverence and memory
I have seen a song bleed into geography and become an anthem
A source of pride
How can the community not be alive with music
both breath and heartbeat
Proof of life
If the streets weren’t alive, we wouldn’t have given them names
Or nicknames
Something that feels like home
But if a community is a song
Is a youth worker not a conductor
Someone who hears the noise and sees music
Sees the city and appreciates the song
Is a youth worker not a conductor
Someone who sees the electricity in a city and uses it to empower others
Someone who uses their smile, passion and kindness as instruments
Someone who teaches us to listen with our hearts
What is a youth worker if not a dj
Someone who can turn scratches into masterpieces
Someone who pours love into others
Someone who supports
Someone who believes
Someone who is present
Someone instrumental to our growth
The irony is that their own struggles often go unsung
And unseen
a symphony of sorrows
A crisis in crescendo
There are days where the work is heavy
Everything feels empty
We honor how you turn your hollow to halo
And continue to be a harbor for harmonies
Please note that rest too is part of music
Burnout can be deafening
Those who have been silenced
appreciate music the most
Know that you do not just attend a shift
But you are part of a movement
Empathy is a song worth playing
Even if it is by yourself
For yourself
We work in systems that work against us
Too much red and yellow tape to hold anything together
Evidence of something broken
But I promise tomorrow appreciates the work you do today
While carrying the weight of yesterday
Thank you for ensuring our cities are filled with music
—
This poem was partially inspired by The Sounds of Communities, an essay by Alissa Firth-Eagland.
Eddie Lartey is a Hamilton-based wordsmith, poet, and spoken word artist whose work delves into themes of love, devastation, and triumph within the Black experience. With a deep commitment to the poetics of world-making and world-breaking, he uses language as a tool for transformation and collective healing. As the founder of Hamilton Youth Poets, Eddie leads writing and performance workshops that welcome participants of all ages and stages.
Eddie’s work has appeared on both national and international stages for nearly a decade. His impressive achievements include winning the Toronto International Poetry Slam in 2019, the Canadian Individual Poetry Championship in 2022, and the Slam of the Americas in Brazil, and recently earning a remarkable 5th place at the World Poetry Slam. Additionally, he was recognized as one of the Top 40 Under 40, and his recent poetry collection barcode just won a Hamilton Literary Award! Eddie’s art invites and inspires us to build a more just and compassionate world, one poem at a time.
