Mary Meriam

MARY MERIAM
PO Box 275
Eagle Rock, MO 65641
417-271-4827

The Loser’s Lament

The winning wealthy poets, photographed
by Avedon, will fly between their homes,
collecting prizes, teaching classes, staffed
with personal assistants, stuffed with poems
that dribble from their mouths and land in books
that stock the superstores, the most elite
of schools, and shelves of readers with the looks
to share their beds and take a dinner seat.

But I’m a poet of a single table.
I wash my dishes at the kitchen sink.
I have nowhere to go, and so I think
I’ll sit and write a poem at the table.
The price I pay for every line I write
is measured by the gods in bloody light.

PROFESSIONAL OBJECTIVE

She’s ready for the warm embrace, the safe
sweet nook of academe, a teaching job,
a power suit, no more a homeless waif,
assigned an office with a door, a knob,
a desk, and lots of time to write and think
in atmospheres of open minds, in peace.
She’s had enough “experience” to sink
a ship. Her work is published without cease,
and she has no connections, nor the cash
to buy her way inside. Consider how
she loves to learn. Consider how she’ll dash
to help her students’ wobbly work, her tao
of bringing glory to the writing schools,
her skill in hatching geniuses from fools.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

CONTESTS
Finalist in A Prairie Home Companion’s Bed of Roses Love Sonnet Contest. Listen to my sonnet, “Something Good,” being read on National Public Radio (Segment One)

CHAPBOOK
R. Nemo Hill, of Modern Metrics Press in New York City, offered to publish a chapbook of my poems. Lillian Faderman offered to write an afterword. The Countess of Flatbroke was published in 2006 and received an award, judged by Janice Gould and Elena Georgiou, from the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice.

POEMS
Literary Imagination - “Who leaves me rootless,” “Witness This”
The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide - “Gaze”
Harrington Lesbian Literary Quarterly - “Queer Elements,” “Wu Tsao’s Seclusion,” “A Separate Place”
Light - “Trip Triolet,” “The Duchess of Dishes,” “Queen Conch,” “Stationmaster”
Windy City Times Pride Literary Supplement - “Lesbian Studies” Listen!
Street Spirit (AFSC Bay Area newspaper for the homeless) - regular contributor
Sinister Wisdom - issues 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 68, 69, 73
Wicked Alice - “The Sweet Gardenias,” “Farewell, Farcia”
Bay Windows - “Something Good”
Lodestar Quarterly - “Transplanted”
Soundzine - “Comfort Songs” Listen!

ESSAYS
Umbrella - “Cheers: Reading a Poem by Alan Shapiro”
The Barefoot Muse - “A Study of 20th Century Bahanic Fragments”
Umbrella - “Ars Longa: Reading a Poem by Marcia Karp”
The Shit Creek Review - “Groping in the Dark: Reading a Poem by Judith Rechter”
Umbrella - “Break-Life-Love-Line: A Letter to Emily”

EDUCATION

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY; New York, NY
Master of Fine Arts in Poetry

BENNINGTON COLLEGE; Bennington, VT
Bachelor of Arts in Poetry

My First Book

At first I felt afraid to take up space.
Why should a tree be sacrificed for what
I had to say? I also couldn’t face
my disabilities, the kind that cut
into my sense of being whole, and good
enough to print. I felt defeated first,
unfit to fight, convinced that no one should
be forced to hear my voice, for I was cursed.
But through the years, I slowly built my strength.
I catalogued the lies and truths I found.
In time, I learned to speak my piece at length
and grew into a fondness for the sound.
And then, I reached a pinnacle - my book -
born of the dark past. Light! Take a look!

THE COUNTESS OF FLATBROKE REVIEWED

The Barefoot Muse
Galatea Resurrects
Nicki Hastie
Lillian Faderman

COMPLETE PUBLICATIONS

2008
Light - “Stationmaster”
Soundzine - “Comfort Songs” Listen!
Street Spirit - January - “Exchange Rate”, “Iris”
Street Spirit - February - “Queer Elements”
Street Spirit - March - “Witness This”
Snakeskin - “Haircut by Angelo (Capelli D'Angelo)” , “Daylight Losing Time” , “Charlotte Mew” , “Nutcracker McCracken” , “Night School”
A Prairie Home Companion’s Bed of Roses Love Sonnet Contest - “Something Good”
Windy City Times Pride Literary Supplement - “Lesbian Studies” Listen!
The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide - “Gaze”
Light - “Red Kiss,” “Splitsville,” “Prayer for Leaf”

2007
Harrington Lesbian Literary Quarterly - “Queer Elements”
Street Spirit - January - nine poems
Professor Allison Joseph is using “Ten Steps to Writing Iambic Pentameter” in her class.
Umbrella - “Cheers: Reading a Poem by Alan Shapiro” , “Ars Longa: Reading a Poem by Marcia Karp”
Street Spirit - February - five poems
The Shit Creek Review - “Handheld Objects”
The Shit Creek Review - Groping in the Dark: Reading a Poem by Judith Rechter” , “The Countess of Flatbroke” , “The Bitter Side of Flatbroke” , “How To Be A Flatbroke Poet And Get A Chapbook”
Umbrella - “Break-Life-Love-Line: A Letter to Emily”
The Barefoot Muse - “A Study of 20th Century Bahanic Fragments”
Light - “Trip Triolet”, “The Duchess of Dishes”, “Queen Conch”
Street Spirit - June - eight poems and an essay
Literary Imagination - “Who leaves me rootless” , “Witness This”
Sinister Wisdom #73 - “Iris” , “Something Good” , “Girl Guide” , “may the women in prison dance”
Street Spirit - July - three poems
Lilt - “Witness This”

2006
Street Spirit - January - “The Countess of Flatbroke” , “Word Beat” , “Handheld Objects”
Sinister Wisdom #67 - “The Countess of Flatbroke” , “The Bitter Side of Flatbroke” , “alone: a senryu sequence”, “Subtext” , “Sustenance”
Street Spirit - March - “Homeless in the Park”
Sinister Wisdom #68-69 - “Handheld Objects”
Street Spirit - April - - seven poems
Street Spirit - May - four poems
Street Spirit - August - eight poems
Wicked Alice - “Farewell, Farcia”
The Bay Area Poets Seasonal Review - “Rhythm and Muse” and “Word Beat”
Street Spirit - September - “Poetry Shelters” (book review) and four poems
Street Spirit - October - three poems
The Shit Creek Review - “Basic Me”

2005
Sinister Wisdom #64 - “Sonata”
Sinister Wisdom #65 - “The Twisted Cage”
Sinister Wisdom #66 - “Nabad iyo Chaano”
Street Spirit - “The Bitter Side of Flatbroke”
Bay Windows - “Something Good”
Wicked Alice - “The Sweet Gardenias”

2004
Sinister Wisdom #62 - “Upon Reading Liann Snow”
Harrington Lesbian Fiction Quarterly - “Wu Tsao’s Seclusion”
The New York Times - Letter to the Editor - “Incarcerated Activist”
The sonnet, “The Countess of Pembroke,” was read to open the ceremonies of the Mary Sidney Society’s second annual Sidney Supper and Pageant in honor of Mary Sidney, in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Sinister Wisdom #63 - “True Nature”

2003
Poets Against the War - May 15th Poem of the Day - “Heart Break”

2002
Harrington Lesbian Fiction Quarterly - “A Separate Place”
Lodestar Quarterly - “Transplanted”
Poetry Poetry - “Blues Addiction”

2001
Bay Windows - “The Duchess”
The Write Dyke - “Captivation”

1999
So to Speak: A Feminist Journal of Language and Art - “Sustenance” and “Arousal”

EDUCATION

1982 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY; New York, NY
Master of Fine Arts in Poetry
- Studied with Jane Cooper, Carolyn Heilbrun, Joseph Brodsky, and Derek Walcott.

1980 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE; Middlebury, VT
Seven-week Program in French

1978 BENNINGTON COLLEGE; Bennington, VT
Bachelor of Arts in Poetry
- Studied with Alvin Feinman, Marguerite Stewart, Mara Maizitis, and Camille Paglia.
- Focused on seventeenth-century English poetry.
- Wrote collection of poems for senior thesis.
- Interviewed about writing poetry on Vermont public television.
- Received award for a poem from Vermont Academy of Arts and Sciences.
- Poetry editor of Bennington’s literary magazine.
- Selected to tutor freshmen.
- Studied art, music, and dance.

AUDIO
Barbara A. Taylor performs Mary’s rap sonnet “Who Among You”
Barbara A. Taylor performs “Blues Addiction” a poem that Barbara and Mary wrote together


MARY MERIAM PO Box 275 Eagle Rock, MO 65641 417-271-4827	The Loser’s Lament The winning wealthy poets, photographed by Avedon, will fly between their homes, collecting prizes, teaching classes, staffed with personal assistants, stuffed with poems that dribble from their mouths and land in books that stock the superstores, the most elite of schools, and shelves of readers with the looks to share their beds and take a dinner seat. But I’m a poet of a single table. I wash my dishes at the kitchen sink. I have nowhere to go, and so I think I’ll sit and write a poem at the table. The price I pay for every line I write is measured by the gods in bloody light.

My First Book At first I felt afraid to take up space. Why should a tree be sacrificed for what I had to say? I also couldn’t face my disabilities, the kind that cut into my sense of being whole, and good enough to print. I felt defeated first, unfit to fight, convinced that no one should be forced to hear my voice, for I was cursed. But through the years, I slowly built my strength. I catalogued the lies and truths I found. In time, I learned to speak my piece at length and grew into a fondness for the sound. And then, I reached a pinnacle - my book - born of the dark past. Light! Take a look!