about me. about my writing.

Hello, I'm Marian Kent, Purveyor of Pretty Words and Superheroic Verse. Writing poetry and other missives. Prone to hyperbole and SHRIEKING IN ALL CAPS.
Click here for information about my three books of poetry: Responsive Pleading, SUPERPOWERS or: More Poems About Flying, and Heart Container. They are available via Amazon, or contact me if you'd like to purchase signed copies directly.
You might like to follow my verse, my cat, and other happenings on Instagram.
Visit my YouTube page, a treasure-trove of spoken-word video starring yours truly!
You can also find me on Amazon and Goodreads




Imaginary Garden With Real Toads: A Retrospective with Kerry, Marian, and Sherry

Interview with Sherry Blue Sky and Susie Clevenger: ON POETRY at Poets United 

Featured on NEPR about Compass Roads, Poems About the Pioneer Valley, click for audio of the story and readings, and a photo slide show! FINDING DIRECTION
Interview with Stephanie Ayers at Our Write Side! January Poet of the Month: Marian Kent
Interview with Vanessa Pesa, Local Author Series: Marian Kent
5 Editors, 5 Questions with Marian Kent, a mini-interview at Write On Edge
Inside the Mind of Poet Marian Kent, an interview with author Eden Baylee
Life of a Poet interview with Sherry Blue Sky at Poets United
Full Name, ALL CAPS: an interview with Izy Gruye about ALL CAPS PUBLISHING at Imaginary Garden With Real Toads 
In Short, An Interview with Grace O'Malley at Imaginary Garden With Real Toads






Hard to express the wonderfulness 

of this virtual exhibit on the topic of HOME 

& how happy I am to be a part of it with two poems,

“Maple & Moon” and “Generations.” 

Thank you, Forbes Library,

right around the corner from our new home. 


    HOME: A Virtual Exhibit 

                by western Massachusetts artists and writers

 

Friends, I’m truly honored that editor Elizabeth Macduffie 

submitted and Mass Poetry selected one of my poems 

to be featured in The Hard Work of Hope. If you click below, 

a poem I'm particularly proud of certainly fits this theme. 

In fact, I think all of my poems are on this theme and I covet 

the name of this series. Anyway my poem is called "Progression,"

originally published in the spectacular Meat For Tea

I hope you like it. And I even provided a fun writing prompt.


Thank you, friends, for reading and supporting my work. 

Here's to whatever 2021 throws at us:

 

            "Progression” in The Hard Work of Hope

 

I'm thrilled that several of my poems are included in this special anthology of poems about the place where I live, Compass Roads: Poems About the Pioneer Valley, edited by the truly amazing Jane Yolen and published by Straw Dog Writers Guild.
My poems have been published in Nice Cage, Hellbent Magazine, Tell-Tale Inklings, Naugatuck River Review, Precipice, Meat For Tea: The Valley Review, U.M.Ph.! Prose Boston Marathon Tribute, Silkworm (the annual review of Florence Poets Society), Emerge Literary Journal, and 30 Poems in November! (a project of the Center for New Americans).
My essay on writing "Using My Words" was featured as part of The Roar Sessions, a project of the inimitable Jena Schwartz, right around the time of my 50th birthday. Naturally.
A little poem of mine was quoted in its entirety by Garrison Keillor in his blog post about 2014 Love Poem Contest finalists (which mine was not, but still wonderful fun): "There was ... one to Facebook (sort of) (“Sometimes I click/on my page/just so I can see/where it says/you’re Married to Me/and then I click/on your page/because it says/I’m Married to You.”)" Click here to check it out. Click!
I'm proud to have been part of the cast of Listen To Your Mother Providence in May 2013. Click here for an archive of words, photos, and video from this remarkable show.









In addition to my own writing, poems and essays by my grandmother, who greatly influenced me, are featured here in my blog. Please click "my grandmother" in the tag cloud to browse through and read her writing, and/or to find some of my writing about her.
Here is a short essay by my grandmother about her journaling habit. This was written when she was in college, but she continued to keep a journal until she died. 
For almost a year, I have kept a diary that I write in absolutely every night. Twice, I have been in bed almost asleep before I remembered that I hadn't recorded the events of the day. Both times, I jumped out and scribbled a few lines hastily, conscientiously, and immediately. But that was months ago, before the habit was firmly established. Now the writing is as much a part of my nightly routine as scrubbing my teeth. I jot down everything that happens during the day as well as a good many of my thoughts. Believe it or not, the little book has an enormous influence for good in my life....

This little blog has an enormous influence for good in my life. Thank you for reading and sharing.