👋🏿 hello! i’m marcus. i nap every day and i’ve been writing & recording myself since i was 10 years old. along the way, i became a dad & a husband 🤎.
I am also poet laureate, an electronic musician, a graphic designer, a teaching artist, and an opera librettist.
you know what’s cool, though? intuitively, there’s nothing i know that you don’t know … .
i started writing poems in the 9th grade, and never stopped. poetry is a way for me to be with my emotions ~ to literally & lovingly hold them.
i’ve self-published 11 books so far, and i served as charleston, sc’s first poet laureate from 2016–22. in 2024, i was inducted into the sc literary hall of fame. 🎉. i absolutely love being in schools to lead workshops.
i’ve been on a lot of stages and have been hired to write custom poems for many lovely people, organizations, & events.
the opera world found me through my poetry. i never knew that this path was available to me until i said “yes” to it.
as a librettist, my opera work has been performed in chicago, nashville, seattle, washington, d.c., the united kingdom, and beyond. the washington national opera used one of my works for president biden’s inauguration in 2021.
in 2024, my original opera with gillian rae perry, the weight of light, debuted in chicago. my words have been sung by rhiannon giddens, will liverman, and others. a new work with composer shawn okpebholo will debut in many cities across the united states in 2027. (details soon on that one!)
okay, so music is definitely the number one passion. i love listening to it, making it, buying it, talking about it, & obsessing over it.
i’ve made more than 40 albums so far. three of them are with two-time grammy winner quentin e. baxter.
as an electronic musician, under the alias tape loop, i love sampling sounds and manipulating loops in real time.
if you call it weird, i’ll thank you for the
compliment.
i design all at my own work, so i might as well design for others, too, right? i can do websites, logos, posters, digital assets, albums, books, etc.etc.
i’ve also done a lot of videos for birthday parties, festivals, nonprofits, & more …
