Joshua Khan
Youth Poet Laureate of Northwest Florida 2026 - 2027
Joshua Khan is a Southern/Trini-American poet and performer based in Gulf Breeze, FL, studying Theater and Creative Writing at The University of Alabama with the intent to become a teacher. He is extremely grateful to be the inaugural Emerald Coast Youth Poet Laureate; for which, he aims to introduce local poetry organizations to the broader community, especially students. Growing up, he always loved poetry but never knew how many resources were available beyond school (which had very little), so he's excited to improve visibility for students like him who would've gotten involved if only they knew to.
Contemporary poets like Etheridge Knight, Bruce Weigl, and Kaveh Akbar created his obsession with repetition, enjambment, and poetry that advocates through story. He is particularly passionate about infusing emotional narratives with objectivity, educating audiences in ways that stick–a strategy he's learned from his extensive experience with poetry performance through Speech & Debate, which he is continuing at Alabama.
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Youth Ambassadors
To support the first ever Youth Poet Laureate, the two runners-up for the position were named as Ambassadors to the Youth Poet Laureate Program. Together, they work with Joshua Khan to nurture our local youth writing community through their prose, talent, and education.
Euphoria Rentz
Euphoria Rentz is nineteen years old and currently a student at Pensacola State College. She will transfer to the University of Florida in 2027. Euphoria loves to write lyric and narrative poetry that can be both fictional and autobiographical. When Euphoria isn't writing, you will likely find her reading, making ceramics, traveling, or volunteering at her local library.
Sydney Maygarden
Sydney Maygarden is a sophomore at Gulf Breeze High School. Her love of poetry began in early childhood, when her mother read her poetry that sparked a lasting appreciation for creative language, imagination, and storytelling. Beyond writing, she stays active in her community through the Junior Firefighter Program, tutoring at her high school, cross country and track.
Timeline
May 4, 2026
Induction as Poet Laureate
Khan was inducted as the first Youth Poet Laureate of Northwest Florida. The induction event was hosted at the Museum of Art in Downtown Pensacola. Runners-Up Sydney Maygarden and Euphoria Rentz were named as ambassadors for Emerald Coast Writers to continue fostering our local community of youth writers.
August 8, 2026
Poetry Reading
Khan has his first poetry reading as the Youth Poet Laureate of the Emerald Coast. The event was hosted by Brownsville Library in Pensacola. He was joined by Ambassador Sydney Maygarden.
September 26, 2026
Poetry Reading
At his second reading as Youth Poet Laureate, Khan was joined by Ambassadors Euphoria Rentz and Sydney Maygarden at Brownsville Library to share their poetry with the community.
September 17, 2026
Youth Virtual Crtitique Group
Khan hosts the first ever Youth Virtual Critique Group for 7th - 12th graders. At these monthly meetings, Kahn guided students through workshopping their poems and used writing exercises to help students expand their skills.
Khan's Poetic Works
Below, we have included some of Khan's poetry. These poems are shared with the express permission of the artist and act as fantastic examples of Khan's writing and prose composition skills. Due to website resizing for different devices, the text below may be presented slightly differently than intended by the artist.
Why People Breathe
The relief he made himself while waiting jutted out the rubble, imitating his lungs, gutted in a war between breath and tongue. The sculpture and him were as still as stone, destined to slowly
stumble down in the landslide it came. As was the last siren call, and the next– near to him, but not yet sketched.
The face appeared to him as his own became conveniently bright; conveniently sight was not hindered by the red, so he said, of course! It is finished. It’s been forced into stability by my own
amenability. (And he believed that.) I’ll stay stuck (–so much so that he almost didn’t notice his flushed complexion in the carving’s reflection–) and stay safe from any falling rock beside me.
Besides me, no one could carve a better plaque, block such an unwarranted attack,
but the cracks in his crumbled canvas could not be patched no matter how he tried. (And he did not try.) The landslide was inside somewhere he never looked; on the outside, there was the relief he built himself to hide himself from the guilt he felt, but try it yourself. When the facade finally fell,
he didn’t look.
Connect-the-Dots
Connect-the-dots is my favorite game
Each day I play it
Again and again the way it
Guides lines into images into my
Eyes find something else to search for
Connect-the-dots is my favorite game
Or at least it must be– trust me, I play it enough
Number to number I go racing, tracing
The picture, starting to emerge–
I’m waiting for the lines to converge
Into images, baiting me with their almost-there art
Almost there, start to form
But they don’t merge, urged
To continue by the imperfection, I draw–
And draw–
And draw–
And draw–
And draw–
And the picture–
Is complete, I have forced it
To be what it’s not, perfect—
And I can breathe for a, moments later
There are more dots
Spots. Here and— They’re not
Going away any time soon
No they’re not and I’m ruining
My train of thought because
Instead of seeing the design
That’s inside of my mind
I see lines—
And lines—
And lines—
And lines—
And lines—
And I’m fine—
I’m fine—
I’m fine—
I’m fine—
I’m fine.
Needing for the picture to emerge,
I play connect-the-dots