MARION PALM

About the artist
Marion Palm

Brooklyn poet/singer Marion Palm has been selected as the first poet to read for Brooklyn Poetry Outreach, organized through the Borough President's Office, under the direction of Brooklyn's Poet Laureate Ken Siegelman. Brooklyn Poetry Outreach was created to expose old and new Brooklyn poets to the Barnes and Noble experience. Ms. Palm, only child of Swedish immigrants, will read on January 29th at six thirty PM at the Barnes and Nobel in Park Slope. She will read previously published poems and from recent work. Ms. Palm is a graduate of the University of Minnesota and is listed as an educator in the 2003 edition of Who's Who In America. She is the founder/director of Poets Under Glass, a writing workshop that has provided more than 150 workshop meetings at the Brooklyn Public Library, a curriculum in District #15 of the NYC Board of Education, (which she developed while working on her thesis as a student in the Parsons Program), a dozen radio shows for WNYE "Poetry in the Morning", produced by Teachers and Writers Collaborative and a host of Open Readings for festivals and events throughout New York City, all at no cost to the city. For this work, Ms. Palm has received praise from former Mayor Giuliani, Chase Bank, "New York Newsweek" and grants from the NY State Council of the Arts, Meet the Composer, BAC/Brooklyn Arts Council and from the NYC Board of Education Assistant Principals Association. Her work is archived in several libraries and museums, nationally and worldwide, most notably in the Oral History collection at the National Museum of Naturalization and Immigration on Ellis Island. She is the first American born person to be selected for inclusion in this collection that addresses the immigrant experience. She can be heard reading a poem about her grandmother Theresia coming to America with her son Swen. Her father brought his mother over here as a 15-year-old crewmember on "The Bremen" ocean liner, to join family already here. They came to America between the World Wars and lived in America during the "Roaring Twenties", owning a home on the canal in an area of what is now called Gerritsen Beach. In the 30s, Swen brought Alice, her mother, here as his bride. They lived their 50+-year honeymoon in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn until they died and were buried together in the urn garden in historic Greenwood Cemetery. Swen is a name that is an anachronism for South West East North. His favorite joke was: "Valkommen till Amerika, Mr. Columbus". The author of six chapbooks, ten industry manuals, dozens of articles published in "The Minneapolis Star and Tribune" and other newspapers and magazines, Ms. Palm's poetry speaks to the condition of recent immigrants: separation from family, striving to fit in, expectations and disappointments that are universal to the human condition for those who must negotiate between two languages and two different cultures to fit into American culture. Ms. Palm integrates the Swedish language and folk references into her work, and playfully pokes fun at the way the work ethic doesn't always allow us to appreciate free gifts around us. Marion Palm lives and works in Sunset Park sharing her residence a with her college bound son Noah and their two cats Mittens and Socks.

LILY POND CARP

At Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Hidden rainbows swim
Beneath sacred lotus leaves.
Art's living jewels.

First published in "Hawaii Haiku"

SPARROWS

Sparrows
Familiar birds
Of lawns and parks
Common
Elusive
Nesting in a cup of debris
Breed under eaves
Eating berries, weed seeds
And bits of bread
Greet us with other allies
Grouped
On power lines.

House sparrows,
Who have found their niche,
Assembling homes
Made of paper and string,
Noisily chirping in monotonous voice,
Act like they came here
Of own choice.

Sparrows,
All from a few
Released in 1850
In Central Park,
Live and play in Greenwood Cemetery.

House sparrows
Poets in residence
Not always welcome
Under air conditioners and in trees
With branches that hang over parked cars,
I hail you as visitor
And friend
Especially on snow covered days
We share our bread.