Lansing’s new poet laureate set to make moves

The late poet Robert Frost once said, “A poem begins with a lump in the throat; a homesickness or a love sickness. It is a reaching-out toward expression; an effort to find fulfillment.” For local poet Masaki Takahashi, some of that gratifying fulfillment has arrived: he is the Lansing region’s new poet laureate.

Last Thursday evening, Michigan State University’s Erickson Kiva Hall was abuzz, but class wasn’t in session — it was a “passing of the laurel” ceremony honoring Takahashi.  

A who’s who of both community members and poetry-scene fixtures were in attendance, including the previous two poet laureates, 2019’s Laura Apol and 2017’s Dennis Hinrichsen. Apol shared poetry and reflected on her time as poet laureate before officially passing the title to Takahashi.  

A few years ago, Hinrichsen, the Capital City’s first poet laureate, told Takahashi he thought the position would be perfect for him. Beyond that, Takahashi also credited Hinrichsen for helping restructure and reframe his poetry writing.  

In his two-year term as poet laureate, Takahashi said he hopes to repay the favor by further bolstering Lansing’s supportive poetry scene to not just poets, but all locals.  

“Poetry is not introduced to a lot of people,” Takahashi told City Pulse. “I want to introduce it to this community, and I want people to get better at it.” 

The 36-year-old Lansing native, who works a daytime software job, said he was able to amplify his poetry career after the pandemic started. The shutdown gave him time to slow down and schedule more time to both write and edit his poems. But Takahashi has been an active force in the local spoken-word poetry scene for years.  

“I’ve done regional poetry slams with some of the best national champions of poetry,” he said. “I’ve hosted my own events and built great relationships. And I’ve met pretty much all my heroes, when it comes to poetry.”  

Takahashi said he used to travel on an open-mic circuit to share his poetry, but the results were lackluster. It was then he realized there wasn’t a go-to space specifically for reading poetry.  

“They’d go, ‘Oh, what are you doing? You don’t have an instrument?’ and I would say, ‘I’m doing poetry,’” he said. “They’d say, ‘Oh, no, it doesn’t go well here.’”  

So, with the help of his friend Dylan Rogers, who co-owns The Robin Theatre, Takahashi started The Poetry Room in 2017. It’s a spoken word open-mic show at the theater. The events draw a decent crowd, sometimes it’s standing room only.  

When he was an “angsty teenager,” Takahashi said he was into hip-hop, which led him to write raps and study freestyle battles. One of his role models was Jin Au-Yeung, or MC Jin — the first Asian American solo rapper to be signed to a major record label. As an Asian American himself, Takahashi said learning how freestyles work made him feel protected and secure.  

“When you’re an Asian American in this country, you’re going to have to face some bullies,” he said. “You can’t fight them all physically. You get really good at making jokes.”  

He recalled a moment from his first job at Walmart when a customer approached him and started singing the chorus of Carl Douglas’ “Kung Fu Fighting.” Takahashi responded by singing “Cotton Eye Joe.”   

As he’s gotten older, the poet has reflected on his past to help tell his story as an Asian American and it’s made him fall in love with poetry even more.  

“It’s a story that I have to tell from different perspectives,” Takahashi said. “It helps me understand that we lack the space held for people of color. Just because three or four people of color walk into a room doesn’t mean it’s diverse.” 

With that, the new poet laureate said he would like to create more spaces for people of color and have conversations about diversity within the community. In his own work, he draws a lot of inspiration from his perspective as an Asian American and the hardships that he’s faced, including working three jobs as a young adult. But he also doesn’t want to forget the positives.  

“You have to really live with all the bad and the good,” Takahashi said. “Experiencing life, as it is, and taking in those small moments is a great and beautiful thing.”  

As poet laureate, Takahashi will connect the community to poetry, while also staying in touch with the fixtures in the community, including some of the faces seen at his ceremony last week — including Lauren Russell, the director of the Center for Poetry at Residential College of Arts and Humanities (RCAH) at MSU, and Ruelaine Stokes, president of the Lansing Poetry Club.  

Looking back, the poet laureate position was created in 2017 in a partnership between the Lansing Poetry Club, the RCAH and the Lansing Economic Area Partnership (LEAP).  

“The poet laureate’s formal responsibility is to be an ambassador for poetry in the Lansing region,” said Emma Botswick, LEAP’s tri-county development manager. “The poet laureate promotes poetry as an art form and is working to expand access to the literary arts.”  

One of the expectations is that the poet will implement one major poetry project each year. The projects are a way to increase public awareness of poetry and to “leave a tangible impression” of the poet’s work, Botswick said. 

For Takahashi’s first project, he’s set to collaborate with spoken word artist Megan Falley. He described the project as a “retro book fair with poetry readings.” While details are still in the works, Takahashi said he is eager to share his passion for literature and poetry with the community.  

“I want to put my favorite books in the libraries,” he said. “I want to indulge in my love for literary arts and introduce them to people — introduce them to the excitement of poetry.”  

Takahashi’s advice for those looking to get involved in the poetry community? Go to all the events.  

“This poetry scene is growing,” Takahashi said. “People are learning and getting better as we teach them about other opportunities.”  

Of course, expanding the budding poetry culture in Lansing is something that goes hand-in-hand with the purpose of the poet laureate position.  

“These efforts, like the placemaking that we have through the poet laureate program, are working to enhance our communities,” Botswick said. “We are both building that stronger sense of community, but also keeping top talent in this region.”   

Outside of his planned project with Falley, Takahashi will also be required to host four readings and workshops in the counties of Eaton, Ingham and Clinton each year. 

The tri-county approach is extremely important to the position in getting the entire Lansing community involved.  

“This is going to be an exciting two years,” Takahashi said. “I’m hoping for more resources, more venues and to get more people involved. There's nothing to it — just to do it.”