Marcus Amaker

Author archive

A fun album …

The last one took a lot out of me. So I made analogue // 6: a 17-minute collection of songs inspired by the 80s. Dig it: analogue // 6 (2017) by tape loop The video:

My most difficult album.

I spent a few months working on an album that proved to be my most difficult project to date. TELEMAQUE. grew from a desire to give a musical voice to the depression that arises from America’s history. You see, sometimes poetry is incapable of expressing pain accurately. Words can only go so far. In my […]

womanhood

(for tim and elise hussey, on the birth of their first child) in the blurry confusion of your first breath, you will open your eyes and instantly focus on love. arms will wrap you in wonder, your mother will bask in the miracle of womanhood, your father will paint colorful creations on blank canvases and […]

BLACK MAGIC, BLACK MUSE (a poem 4 Prince)

alone, on your last night alive with your voice unamplified, did you speak in perfect pitch like you sang, one week prior – 57 and flawless. fans, hanging on every word, melodies triggering memories, a Prince with a piano and microphone … alone, on your last night alive did you have the same confidence you […]

Interview on SC Public Radio

I had the honor of being on SC Public Radio this morning to promote my Piccolo Spoleto show. Listen to the interview here.

Announcing Charleston’s first poetry festival

So happy to announce Free Verse, our city’s first poetry festival. It’s always been a dream to put on a festival in Charleston. It will happen in October. Check out my letter, below, and also go to the website and (please) donate! Love.

calloused hands

(inspired by Dave the Potter) what history will we carve with our hands? will it be an unfiltered truth as written word, tattooed on the body of pottery when reading and writing were revolutionary? will our hands hold each other in crisis again and again when our bodies are fragile and bone-dry, coiling the repetition […]

Life as a laureate: visiting schools

I’ve visited a lot of schools before I became poet laureate of Charleston. But now, the visits are becoming more frequent and more rewarding. I’ve done poetry workshops and/or read poems at The Cooper School, Meeting Street Academy, Claflin University (Orangeburg, SC), Sanders-Clyde, Academic Magnet, Wando High School, and Ft. Johnson Middle School. Soon, there […]

Magazine design: Spring issue of No Depression

The new issue of No Depression is out! It’s probably the sexiest thing that I’ve ever designed. Info is below:

The arrogance of the moon

the moon is unmoving. frozen and self-centered in the atmosphere. he’s proud of the fact that he can be steady among a chaos of satellites while meditating above clouds and rubbing elbows with stars. he’s stoic. watching egoic people who are steady impressed with excesses, like high definition drones that give us a limited view […]