Dressed in suede shoes, a print button up shirt with rolled up sleeves and dark slacks, Amaker’s loosely pulled back locs spill out from beneath his newspaper boy cap. He exudes a vibe funky and chic. Then, he introduces himself with a poem that could make anyone appear anything but cool.<\/p>\n
“I beat myself up the first time words bumped up against my breath, disconnected from the pulse inside my head. So I made beats alone behind closed doors instead.”<\/p>\n
Amaker’s intro depicts a solitary boy who looks to music for a friend; a boy who stammered and stuttered and still stumbles as an adult. It’s a self- portrait so raw; it’s as if it’s drawn with crayons.<\/p>\n
“I’m in a mode now where I want people to know me,” says Amaker as we talk downtown in Washington Park just behind city hall.<\/p>\n
“I’ve been writing a lot about Charleston and social justice issues. I want folks to know me as well, and that is me.”<\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n Charleston’s Poet Laureate Marcus Amaker Making a Difference | South Carolina Public Radio https:\/\/t.co\/QwrFoeZLF4<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Victoria Hansen (@VHansenSCRadio) November 12, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n