Anne Marie Marra, RIP
"It is with profound sadness that we note the passing of our dear friend, poet Anne Marie Marra. We will dedicate our next Library Poetry Slam to her memory, on Wednesday, April 1, at 7 PM.
As a member of last year's White Plains Poetry Team, Anne Marie made her mark at Nationals as the "Poe' Ho" petite powerhouse who connected with the audience. She entertained and inspired us all with her dynamic, humorous and heartfelt performance. We hope you'll join us in celebrating a life lived in poetry, at the start of National Poetry Month."
(Karyna McGlynn will be the feature that night). "
I met Anne Marie at PSi's Poetry Cross-Training Camp in Oneonta a couple of years ago. She stood out right away. She was one of the shortest people in any given room, and that's easy to spot, but when she got to talking, all of this fire and energy came out of her. She was the kind of person we'd designed the so-called "Slam Camp" for: someone who might have been writing poetry, but wanted to see what else could be done with it. Every time I saw her at camp she was throwing herself into the lessons and making people laugh with her personality and her work.
I loved how she embraced herself, for better and for worse. When I came to feature at the Nuyorican once she was there and it made me feel good and challenged me. I thought, "She heard me talk all that smack at PXT. I better make it look like I knew what I was talking about." Watching her enjoy my work was a real heart-warming experience. Watching her at NPS on a team, all sure and true, that was an experience too.
The Slam community is filled with characters and personalities that stand out in any other type of crowd. If you've ever been to an orientation at a National Poetry Slam, it's like a two page spread of a Justice League comic come to life, with every imaginable hero crammed into the room in full regalia and weirdness. Anne Marie - the "Poe Ho", as she called herself - was always right there in the mix, taking it all in, loving the poetry that comes with being a genuine poet.
She will be sorely missed.
More info:
http://puzzleddragon.blogspot.com/2009/03/wonderful-slammer-anne-marie-marra.html
And a video:
As a member of last year's White Plains Poetry Team, Anne Marie made her mark at Nationals as the "Poe' Ho" petite powerhouse who connected with the audience. She entertained and inspired us all with her dynamic, humorous and heartfelt performance. We hope you'll join us in celebrating a life lived in poetry, at the start of National Poetry Month."
(Karyna McGlynn will be the feature that night). "
I met Anne Marie at PSi's Poetry Cross-Training Camp in Oneonta a couple of years ago. She stood out right away. She was one of the shortest people in any given room, and that's easy to spot, but when she got to talking, all of this fire and energy came out of her. She was the kind of person we'd designed the so-called "Slam Camp" for: someone who might have been writing poetry, but wanted to see what else could be done with it. Every time I saw her at camp she was throwing herself into the lessons and making people laugh with her personality and her work.
I loved how she embraced herself, for better and for worse. When I came to feature at the Nuyorican once she was there and it made me feel good and challenged me. I thought, "She heard me talk all that smack at PXT. I better make it look like I knew what I was talking about." Watching her enjoy my work was a real heart-warming experience. Watching her at NPS on a team, all sure and true, that was an experience too.
The Slam community is filled with characters and personalities that stand out in any other type of crowd. If you've ever been to an orientation at a National Poetry Slam, it's like a two page spread of a Justice League comic come to life, with every imaginable hero crammed into the room in full regalia and weirdness. Anne Marie - the "Poe Ho", as she called herself - was always right there in the mix, taking it all in, loving the poetry that comes with being a genuine poet.
She will be sorely missed.
More info:
http://puzzleddragon.blogspot.com/2009/03/wonderful-slammer-anne-marie-marra.html
And a video:
Click to view