Michigan Poet Laureate Nandi Comer Visits LTU

On Tuesday, February 13, 2024, Lawrence Technological University welcomed the state’s second poet laureate, Ms. Nandi Comer. As poet laureate, her major role is to advocate for the art and practice of poetry. Ms. Comer is a Detroit native and graduate of Communication and Media Arts High School.

She attended the University of Michigan, earning two bachelor’s degrees in English and Spanish. She is the author of two poetry collections, American Family and Tapping Out. She has published poems and essays that have appeared in Calloo, Crab Orchard Review, and The Journal of Pan African Studies. She is a Cave Canem Fellow and a Callaloo Fellow.

Ms. Comer has served as a writer-inresidence in Detroit Public Schools and has worked in collaboration with organizations, including YArts and InsideOut Literary Arts Projects. She serves as a poetry editor for Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora and is the codirector of Detroit Lit. In addition, informed by her experience growing up in Detroit, Ms. Comer writes and performs literary pieces that incorporate the history of the city while also examining race, gender, sexuality, and class.

Ms. Comer’s appearance was a campus-wide event sponsored by the Lawrence Tech Library, Provost’s Office, College of Arts and Sciences, and the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The general public and Southfield Public School students were cordially invited to attend the event. Below is an excerpt of the conversation that was held with Ms. Comer and LTU librarian Sheila Gaddie. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Michigan has not had a poet laureate in sixty years. Why?

I think it is good to understand the historical nature of the selection of a poet laureate. In the past, a poet laureate might be selected by being nominated by the community. In Michigan’s case, several professional poets were appointed to a committee that nominated several poets and decided on three finalists. The Michigan Department of Education made the selection of Michigan’s next poet laureate. It should be noted that in the past the poet laureate position was a lifetime appointment and unpaid. Now, Michigan has changed the position to a term limit of two years. I was appointed last April, and my term ends in December when we welcome a new poet laureate.

My burning question is, why does Michigan need a poet laureate when today’s students are reading less fiction and even less poetry?

One of the things that I think for us to recognize, and we do recognize it institutively, is that we turn to poetry at some of the most important times in our lives. We turn to poetry when someone is born, when someone dies, or when someone gets married…we ask, “Do we have a poet?” There is an importance that we place culturally on poetry. It is also important for us to understand that within many generations, there have been movements of poets that reflect the lives and issues that concern us as a community. We need to recognize the power of poetry. There is something about Detroit that is very interesting. Just recently, the city of Detroit announced that they are not only appointing a poet laureate, but they are also going to appoint a composer laureate. They are recognizing the importance of musicmaking as well in the city. The arts in general need to have that type of support by the government to understand that we are not just people who drive the economy but also define culture.

A lot of your poems speak to Detroit, which is fantastic. I was wondering how that fits in with being a poet laureate for the state of Michigan.

I am going to turn it on to you also. If a poet from upper Michigan had been named poet laureate and they were presenting in Detroit, people wouldn’t necessarily ask them how their work represents all of Michigan. I think culturally Detroit is different, but so are Flint and Ann Arbor. We are all Michiganders. I was born in Michigan. I represent Michigan. When I am writing about Detroit, I am writing about Michigan.

Besides your morning practice, what are one to three practices you do to keep your pen sharp?

That’s a great question! Read! If you are not reading, you are not writing. Two, find your tribe, a group of people that supports you in a way that is not just about a celebration but one that will give you the type of criticism that will push you to the next level. Finally, it is a sacrifice to turn toward art. We do not have a society that supports artists in a comprehensive way. Artists will never be compensated for the work that they put into their art. Know that! Know that is what you signed up for.