George Elliott Clarke has been appointed as Canada’s seventh poet laureate. 

His wide-ranging conversation with Desmond touches on how working for a trailblazing black MP led him to meeting the Dalai Lama, why politicians should care about poetry and how he thinks Canadians are being ripped off by phone companies. 

Plus, he nearly sets the studio on fire with a rendition of his poem “Look Homeward, Exile."