UPDATED: Friends and poets gathered Tuesday to perform at an open mic night to remember the late poet Charles Coe.
Regie Gibson, Massachusetts’ inaugural poet laureate, kicked off the event, which was presented by the Beehive Poetry Group at the Robbins Library.
Gibson and other participants recited Coe’s poetry as well as their own work that they dedicated to him. A guitarist, saxophonist and bassist performed with two of the acts.
Originally, Coe was supposed to appear beside Gibson at the event, but he died last November, said Steven Rapp, a volunteer with the Beehive Poetry Group.
Gibson and Jean Flanagan, Arlington’s poet laureate, formed the idea to make the night a tribute to Coe.
“I think it surpassed anybody’s expectations. I think it’s really super,” Rapp said. “You can really feel the energy. It’s a really good crowd.”
Although Flanagan was not a personal friend of Coe’s, she said she admired his work.
“He had a real gift of getting to know people,” Flanagan said. “He had so many friends. Every time I heard him read, I thought he was fantastic.”
Gibson said he did not want to do the event by himself but felt he could revive Coe’s spirit by having people read poetry by Coe and in memory of him.
“The event had to change because of his death,” Gibson said, “but as you can see, it was such an outpouring of love and respect for him that I was really happy to be part of this.”
Gibson had been friends with Coe for over a decade.
“If you met Charles Coe, you were a friend,” Gibson said.
Before his death at age 73, Coe had talked with Gibson about helping him with work for the Office of the Poet Laureate.
“He was a dear friend,” Gibson said, “and he was a person who understood music, understood literature, understood psychology, understood cooking. Just a wonderful individual to be around.”
Gibson said the event “felt like it was a healing.”
Gibson concluded his set with a rendition of the first movement of John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme,” a jazz album that he spoke with Coe about a lot.
“I guess this is what I think of when I think about him and the love he held,” Gibson said.
Coe was a writing teacher and was the city of Boston artist-in-residence in 2017. He died last November at his Cambridge home while being treated for prostate cancer.