Charles Coe, beloved poet, author, musician, activist, and advocate, has died. Tributes and remembrances continue to grow since his death two weeks ago. He made so many of our lives better, and his loss is difficult to bear.
Ever generous with his sizable gifts, Charles taught writing to people of all ages, from kids to MFA students. We often talked about the process, and I listened carefully when he spoke about his advice to new writers. Asking them to dig a little deeper. Challenging them to engage not just in their craft but in their essence as human beings. He knew so damn much.
Charles turned from poetry and prose to a piece of fiction for our organization. It is not easy to write a Hilo book, creating an engaging story at a low reading level accessible to people on the path to literacy. Never talking down to the reader, Charles met the challenge beautifully. He said the discipline of telling a sophisticated story in simple terms made him a better writer. That was Charles: thinking about the reader first, the effect later. Spin Cycles is a tender, funny, and poignant portrait of a troubled young man in Boston whose homelessness is rooted in mental health. It became a favorite among our audiences.
Charles’ generosity towards Gemma and the literacy community was constant. He spoke at conferences, library events, book signings, and made a monumental presentation to ProLiteracy while he was hours away from surgery! Charles went on to record Spin Cycles as well as Joe Schuster’s Jackie Robinson with that gorgeous, deep blue ocean voice of his.
And there was another book. In October, we revisited his idea for a new story for emerging readers. The Garden centered on a tender scene—a man braiding his motherless daughter’s hair—and he read me a little. We will never know what happened. The file was lost.
Where do those thoughts go? All the plans for teaching, for new music, for new poems, new stories? It is hard to believe they have disappeared along with his humor, his wisdom, his goofy jokes, his sharp observations on everything from politics to the NBA to the antics of the Lords of Appleton Road. We all have bits and pieces of fresh, vibrant ideas that were coming into focus in that beautiful head of his. Such a loss, not to hear them anymore.
Charles was funny, irreverent, brilliant, and the warmest man I ever knew. I am deeply grateful to Charles, and I miss him. We are now diminished, and the world is less dignified without him.