Marcus Wicker

(Verenigde Staten, 1984)

Biografie

Marcus Wicker was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He is the author of Silencer (2017) and Maybe the Saddest Thing (2012), which was selected by D.A. Powell for the National Poetry Series and was a finalist for the NAACP Image Award. Reviewing Wicker’s first book for Slate, Jonathan Farmer wrote that Wicker’s poetry, “seeks (and finds) real delight, giddy with the joy of making language mean and sing, sound and sense and allusion all but falling over each other as they run.” In an interview with Cate Lycurgus, Wicker acknowledged that, “at least half my poems begin by chasing the sound of something I can’t shake.”

If in his image made am I, then make me a miracle.
Make my shrine a copper faucet leaking everlasting Evian to the masses.
Make this empty water glass a goblet of long-legged French wine.
Make mine a Prince-purple body bag designed by Crown Royal
for tax collectors to spill over & tithe into just before I rise.

– from ‘Conjecture on the Stained Glass Image of White Christ at Ebenezer Baptist Church’

Wicker’s poems are infused with pop culture and, oftentimes, humor, even when addressing difficult subjects. Wicker has stated that he uses humor as “invitation”; “an equalizing hook”; and an “olive branch.”

                                                                           Nobody all-fucked
          in boot cuffs wide enough to cloak court appointed tethers.

Or slumped over, hoodie-shrouded – sheepishly scary according to
          one eye witness. Definitely not going to be your Louis V

Sweat Suit red carpet fashion review, coming at you live from E!
          & Fox News outside of the morgue.
– from ‘Taking Aim at a Macy’s Changing Room Mirror, I Blame Television’

Marcus Wicker is the poetry editor of Southern Indiana Review and serves as director of the New Harmony Writers Workshop. He is assistant professor of English at University of Southern Indiana. His awards include a Ruth Lilly Fellowship, Pushcart Prize, as well as fellowships from Cave Canem, and The Fine Arts Work Center.

Bibliography
Silencer, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017
Maybe the Saddest Thing, Harper Perennial, New York, 2012

Links
‘Now You See Me’ by Marcus Wicker
Poetry Off the Shelf: ‘More Poetry in the Aftermath: two additional poets react to the U.S. presidential election’
Marcus Wicker’s website
Marcus Wicker interviewed by Cate Lycurgus
Review of Maybe the Saddest Thing by Jonathan Farmer

Gedichten

Animal Farm Taking Aim at a Macy\'s Changing Room Mirror, I Blame Television Bay Window Lauds Conjecture on the Stained Glass Image of White Christ at Ebenezer Baptist Church Ode to Browsing the Web The Way We Were Made

Gedichten

Gedichten van Marcus Wicker