Harriet Wolman's latest writing project is not the most lucrative she has ever had, but it's probably the most popular. Wolman has been dubbed the poet laureate of Toronto's Holy Blossom Temple, where she leads an online poetry and creative writing group for the congregation and sends out a poem once a week. She's developed a following of people who request her weekly poems. "As someone hears about a poem, they often ask to be added to the list of recipients," she said. "People are expecting it.People ask, 'When are you sending your next poem?'"Wolman honed her skills writing reports, fi rst as a school board trustee and then as an assistant to three cabinet ministers. She also served almost 20 years on the Federal Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB). "When the pandemic began, I found the isolation very diffi cult, as did most of us. I was also recently widowed, which made matters worse," she said. "I began to write these poems as much to counter my own personal feelings of isolation as well as assisting others." Sending out a weekly poem has kept her connected to family and friends. "This seemed to be a way of reaching people and providing them with some support to help with the isolation of the pandemic," she said. Wolman, in turn, has been encouraged by the positive response to her poetry. While acknowledging the challenges of the pandemic, her poems are uplifting, she said. "You capture people's hopes and fears, but at the same time it's important to be positive." Wolman was appointed to the refugee board in 1993, a position she held until 2013. "I was always reappointed by all the governments, Conservative and Liberal, so I must have done something right. My decisions were seldom overturned by the federal court." In 2012 she was awarded the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal for her years of public service.
