The Nex t
Stanza te, CJ Suitt, Chapel Hill’s first poet laurea ape is here to transform the poetic landsc Wat son | Pho togr aph y by Cor nell By Mor gan Car tier Wes ton
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his family’s tching “Wa . Southern Pentecostal church as a child it, pulp the passionate people not just standing in , story r-old but taking up space, sharing a 2,000-yea way a in , grace wrapped in metaphor with power and daily lives,” CJ the congregation could apply it to their CJ believes why says, “it was amazing.” It’s also part of been have s poetry should be read aloud. “Human re we ever befo speaking language for thousands of years d now, worl our wrote anything down, but looking at says. you’d think it was the opposite,” CJ speakers He believes listening to those charismatic ical mus e, at church, combined with his expressiv creative his on ence household, was the first major influ ds balla R&B life. At home, his father frequently sang
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chapelhillmagazine.com
December 2020
J Suitt first experienced poetry at