When Lisa Starr was 11 years old, she had her first poem published in a local Connecticut newspaper. She remembers the title as "Man's Journey."
"It went something like, 'Sometime each morning/The sun rises/Beauty that hypnotizes," Starr recalled. "Of course, I'm embarrassed about that."
Almost 30 years later, after her own journey through jobs as a waitress, paralegal, preschool teacher and college instructor, Starr has settled down on Block Island as an innkeeper - and now, Rhode Island's state poet laureate.
Gov. Donald Carcieri '65 appointed Starr, the operator of the Hygeia House and founder of the Block Island Poetry Project, last Friday to a five-year term as state poet. She will be the Ocean State's fourth laureate, succeeding Tom Chandler MFA '86, a Bryant University professor whose term ended in 2005, and current Brown professors of English Michael Harper and C.D. Wright, the first and second state poets, respectively.
The 40-year-old Starr said she learned of the appointment Friday when Randy Rosenbaum, director of the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, called her. At first, they chatted about the poetry series she was working on, but he then broke the good news.
"You know when you almost get into a car accident, and about 20 minutes later, you start to shake and cry about what happened?" Starr said. "That's kind of what happened."
For Starr, the appointment is a bright spot in what has been a grief-filled year. In the past year, her mother and young cousin died, and her sister-in-law has been sick.
"I felt blessed, humbled, utterly surprised," the poet said. "And I'm just excited to have the opportunity to do work" with poetry in the state.
Carcieri chose Starr earlier this year after reviewing recommendations from the state art council, Rosenbaum said. The first state poet was appointed in 1989, and though the position includes a $1,000-a-year stipend, it carries no official duties and laureates can advocate poetry in whatever way they wish.
During his tenure, Chandler started writing a monthly column on poetry that sometimes featured Starr's work for the Providence Journal. Starr said she intends to start an outreach program with workshops in every school, library and senior center in the state. "It helps to say something ambitious like that in a very small state," she said.
Starr, a Leyland, Conn., native, said she started writing poetry in grade school. She continued writing at the University of Connecticut and then at Hunter College in New York City, where she was part of a television-writing program. But she dropped out after three-and-a-half years of college and moved to Block Island, about a half-hour drive and hour-long ferry ride from Providence. Starr said her family frequented the island for vacations when she was a child.
"I need to live here to write what I write," she said.
Starr said she was also "done with the idea of making a living through writing." Instead, Starr took a variety of jobs, usually juggling two at once, and tried to find some time to write in between. She returned to school to complete her degree and published her first poetry collection, "Days of Dogs and Driftwood," in 1993.
In 1998, Starr and her husband purchased a rundown house on the island and, after taking several loans, spent about $1 million to renovate the place. They opened the house as a bed-and-breakfast in 1999. Starr enjoys writing in the inn, now known as Hygeia House, which includes a poetry library.
"In the middle of the entire business I'm trying to run are scraps of paper everywhere," she said.
About four years ago, Starr said she was returning home from a poetry workshop in New York. She said it was "the best writing experience" but felt she could run a better workshop herself. After attending the same workshop a year later, she made a list of things she would do differently if she ran the conference. Then she decided to start her own.
Held at both a neighboring inn as well as her own on Block Island, Starr started the Block Island Poetry Project in 2004. The first workshops were held in April, during National Poetry Month, and about 45 poets from the area attended, Starr said. Now in the project's fourth year, Starr holds workshops from March to May and expects about 300 people from at least 18 states to attend this year.
Though she is excited by her state poet appointment, Starr has other things to worry about for now. She said she's sitting on about 120 complete poems, hoping to turn them into one or two books. She still has two more weekends of poetry workshops to run. And she said the first tourists of the season will arrive in early May, so she said she's been running around in "her chambermaid's clothes" trying to prepare the inn for their arrival.
Despite her hectic schedule, Starr's colleagues believe she is perfect for the job. Rosenbaum said Starr has received fellowships from the state art council in the past and that "she is the best of the best."
"I couldn't be happier for her," Chandler said. "She was my first choice. ... She's a great poet in her own right. She's a natural leader," he said. "She's going to be a great poet laureate."
