“The roots of poetry are in song, are in ritual, are in prayers, are in magic. When we say we are enchanted by something, there’s the idea of incantation in that, how can we listen to a song in a language we can’t speak yet be moved by that song?” says Rhode Island’s new State Poet Laureate, Colin Channer. He is also an associate professor of literary arts at Brown University and the author of 10 books of fiction and two collections of poetry. In his role as a public poet, Channer says, “The more people have windows and mirrors in writing, the more they will see the world in themselves and themselves in the world.”
Channer brings many worlds to his work. He was born and raised in Jamaica, the son of a police officer who died when he was 12 years old. His mother, a pharmacist, was also a gifted storyteller. Channer eventually moved to New York for his education.
He is Rhode Island’s 7th Poet Laureate, a position generated by law in the General Assembly in 1987. The appointment is for five years with a $1,000 stipend for each position.
The poet laureate has free rein as a literary arts advocate in the Ocean State. Channer says he wants to create something special: A Literary Arts Festival on the scale of the Newport Jazz Festival. And he would like to use the state’s famed beaches as a backdrop.
“I just keep thinking every boardwalk is a stage,” Channer says. “Where you could bring your blanket and hear the world’s greatest authors.”
Channer has had experience with such an event as co-creator of the Calabash Literary Arts Festival in his native Jamaica.
Writing is a calling for Channing.
“So I do it for love,” he says.
And what does he want people to feel when they read his poetry?
“It’s not so much a word but a sound. I want them to come away with some version of mmmmmmmm ...beyond words,” he says.
