Myriam San Marco

Biography

Myriam San Marco is a poet, promoter and educator based in Bournemouth, UK. Their work tells stories which aim to shatter the conventional narrative. Myriam is currently working on their first one-person show - Tell me you’re neurodivergent without telling me - an exploration of the neurodivergent experience and a critical response to neurotypical society, and peppered with practical protest ideas for people who are also sick of this shit. Myriam’s work explores the themes of mental health, addiction, neurodivergence, parenthood and how internal change can inspire a passion to fight injustice. ‘Hi, I’m Myriam and I’m a poet. I write poetry because I feel there is a hole in my middle. I write poetry because it hurts not to do so. I write poetry because it feels as necessary as breathing or eating. I write poetry because telling stories is a vital part of being human and connecting with other humans. My aim when performing my poems is to connect the audience with their own stories and emotions, and shine a light on the stories that are buried, not told, to start a conversation about the unspoken. I’m inspired by how the mundane aspects of life can clash with the dark corners of reality and turn out beautiful like a crime scene.” As the Bournemouth Poet Laureate, Myriam has been leading writing and development programmes for local writers, schools, and universities with support from Bournemouth Libraries for the past 8 years. She continues to mentor local writers offering bespoke programs and workshops, developing a CPD framework for spoken word artists. In 2016, Myriam founded Word Makers and Silence Breakers, a spoken word artists collective, producing and curating high quality live literature events termly; offering professional development and mentoring through our Spoken Word Artist Training program, designing and facilitating creative writing workshops, and inviting leading poets, such as Joelle Taylor, Hollie McNish and Dizraeli to the area to perform. In 2023, The Wordmakers Collective incorporated as a CIC, and received a Local Hero Commendation from the Chairman of BCP Council, in recognition of their contribution to arts and culture locally. As a performer, Myriam has featured at events including 451 City (Apples & Snakes), Hammer & Tongue, LicKittySpit (The Marlowe, Canterbury) and She Grrrowls, with festival appearances including New Forest Folk Festival, Purbeck Folk Festival, Buddhafield, Good Vibrations Festival, and In Other Words Festival. Her slam honours include Finalist Hip Yak Slam (x2), Purbeck Folk Poetry Slam (x2), So: To Speak Slam, Runner-up Artfulscribe Showcase Slam, Winner of Poetry Slam Online, and Rejector Slip Slam Champion, as well as residencies for BadBury Rings Rewind Festival, The Chocolate Poetry Club London, and The Platform@The Mad Cucumber. In 2020, Myriam was longlisted for the Outspoken Prize for Performance Poetry. Her debut collection Sakura was published by Burning Eye in 2018. She is currently working on her second collection for publication in 2024. Standing on your lonesome in front of the microphone, the audience expectant, do you ever get the feeling that Clint Eastwood has just asked you: do you feel lucky, punk? Well, do you? Releasing your words, your song, your soul into the great unknown, hoping for a clap, a nod, a gesture of yes that was good. Luck may only play a minor part as soft as the tiny breeze of a butterfly's wing half a world away. To speak and know the hurricane is coming takes a little talent, a little risk and a lot of work beforehand. To write and polish, to rehearse and give it some shine, to appear born ready, to smash and grab it. Thing is we want more of that. We want to be wowed by everyday people who hold lightening in their hands and perform from the edge of the storm clouds. Do you feel lucky, punk? I don't. I have to make myself sit and write not waiting for inspiration to strike me. Sit and write. Practice, polish and shine. I use creative writing exercise to stretch, to aim further, to caress words into the shape of my thoughts.Write.Write.Write.Edit. Rewrite, craft. Ebb and flow. Create and forge. Polish, polish, polish. The new stuff needs time to grow. Read more, choose your favourite sentence or even a random sentence and use it as a starting point. Allow yourself to write absolute shit. Remember, you enjoy writing. MYRIAM SAN MARCO myriamwordmaker@gmail.com Current Projects Spoken Word Artist (SWAT) mentoring and professional development program for local writers from January 2022 – piloting a series of educational workshops to develop a comprehensive termly curriculum designed for writers to develop as professional spoken word artists – creating an academic curriculum and evaluating & facilitating workshops in hybrid digital/in person format – developing a specific approach to work with neurodivergent writers - Word Makers and Silence Breakers spoken word artist Collective founder and project manager 2016 to present – Artistic Director and Producer of Wordmakers Events – Booking & Artist liaison - Mentoring and Lead writing workshop facilitator – Wordmakers aim as a team to support the local poetry scene and offer developmental opportunities through themed live literature events, writing groups, and workshops – Bournemouth Writing Festival – Poetry Hunt Curator –: Poetry Hunt | Bournemouth Writing Festival MAJOR PROJECTS • Laureate mentoring and development programme leader for Library Writers from July 2016 to Jan 2020 • Word Makers and Silence Breakers spoken word collective founder and project manager 2016 to present • Writing workshop facilitator for Bournemouth School for Girls, Harewood College, Avonbourne Trust, St Luke’s Primary School and Millennium House, 2017/18 • Poet in Residence and Poetry stage manager at BadBury Rings Rewind Festival, 2016/17/18 • Performance Skills Coach for The Complete Freedom of Truth Erasmus+ Bournemouth project 2016 • Host/event organiser of The Sirens showcase for So:To Speak Southampton festival, October 2015 • Host of Spread the Verb (Lit Up with Apples and Snakes bi-monthly spoken word showcase) 2015/16 • Creative writing workshop facilitator at Poole Festival of Words July 2015. • Resident poet and workshop facilitator at The Chocolate Poetry Club London from June 2015/Dec17 • Host and poet in residence at The Platform@the Mad Cucumber vegan lounge from June 2014. • Writer in residence at Makers Inc. café to project manage and host Word Makers Spoken Word Slam 2014/15 • Creative writing and mosaic workshops facilitator for Creative Kids from 2014 to 2020 • Project Manager and arts and creative writing workshop facilitator for Jericho Arts 2011-14 TESTIMONIALS Sakura Review: I'd planned to keep it as my next volume of bedside reading and to ration myself: one poem per night. Yeah right - like that was going to work! My big mistake was to think I could take it to my favourite chair, sit with a mug of strong tea at my side and just have a little taster: dip in and sample the first couple of titles... I've just finished it, having been hooked from the get-go and drawn in, ever onward and ever deeper. I'm not easily given to hyperbole, Myriam, so please believe me when I say that it's very, very rare for a poetry collection to hold me so totally in thrall. Sakura is a magnificent creation: aesthetically nourishing as an art object, and with written contents that are rich, compelling, uncompromisingly honest; things of terrible beauty and brutal tenderness. I'll still be carrying out Plan A, though: it will be my next bedside book. Having gulped all my medicine down in one go, I now want to take it one measured dose at a time. Nor, I suspect, will that be the end of my relationship with these poems. Sakura is definitely NOT one of those collections that, after initial perusal, ends up on the shelf never to be opened again. I'm going to want to come back and back. Hell, you can get a lot with a tenner these days. Johnny Fluffypunk : “Myriam sometimes calls herself Word Maker, but it is her word-choosing that impresses me most. In Sakura, Myriam's word-choices, sharply-focused as laser-pointers, are shone straight into the eyes of the dark beasts that gnaw away at the foundations of us and our relationships, threatening to turn the world wobbly. Her word-choices make reading this poetry an uncomfortable experience at times; an exhilarating and beautiful and sexy one at others. But always rewarding. This little book is the result of meeting the world head on in all its ugly glory and finding a way to distill that experience; to turn it into potent shots that both burn and warm the heart in equal measure. It is a little book, yes, but it is also a great victory. Myriam has lived and loved and somehow survived and look! Here she is, stronger than ever and mouth blazing, holding Sakura aloft like a hard-won scalp.” Workshop feedback from the Head of English Avonbourne Secondary School: “Just to let you know today's workshop by Bournemouth Poet Laureate Myriam, and Matt, with 7F2, went really well. The most striking aspect was how students really responded to Myriam's commitment to poetry. Myriam led a workshop that made poetry accessible to everyone. The first activity led students to create a whole class poem, which encouraged students to appreciate rhythm and editing. Next, students explored the structural effects of an award-winning poem, as springboard to writing own poems on a theme of Frankenstein. Myriam got students to focus on vocabulary connotations by a simple word association game. Students also noted the writing framework of the stimulus poem. The advice that "From now on, the answer to any question you have is 'you can' ..." made independent writing such a positive experience. Myriam and Matt's encouragement and praise to students was infectious. At the end lots of students wanted to share their poems - and Myriam's feedback was specific and challenging. We look forward to working with Myriam again. I'd absolutely recommend this enrichment.” Mentee: “Working with Myriam as my mentor, friend and professional life coach has been one of the most enriching and encouraging influences in my life. She has raised me up not only as a performer and poet but as a human being. This nurturing nature is something she will likely deny or try to obfuscate from the public eye but the passion she has for the local scene and each and every one of us in it is undeniable. I am so proud of the work we have put into Wordmakers to make it a welcoming and all-inclusive platform and the feedback we've had has made every drop of blood, sweat and tear completely worth it.” Matt Miles SELECTED PUBLICATIONS • Sakura, full collection, Burning Eye Books, 2018 • “Freedom poems for National Poetry Day 2017” as guest editor for I am not a silent poet • “Marie-Rose” BBC commission for National Poetry Day 2016 • “Never Gentle” The Interpreter’s House issue 62 June 2016 • “Five things” Poets’ Republic February 2016 • “Teach peace” I am not a silent poet magazine November 2015 • “If you tell”, I am not a silent poet online magazine, July 2015 • "SNAFU”, “Forty-eight”, “The Crossed Road”, I am not a silent poet magazine, June 2015 • “Like a ton of Lego bricks”, “Impervious to hugs”, Message in a bottle magazine, April 2015 • “You hide I count”, Oddity #10, March 2015 • "Murder”, The Interpreter’s House issue 58, February 2015 • “Image is everything”, Boscombe Revolution #3, Hesterglock Press, January 2015 ACHIEVEMENTS • Long-listed for the Outspoken performance prize March 2020 • Finalist Hip Yak Slam July 2019 • Finalist of the Purbeck Folk Festival Poetry Slam August 2018 • Bournemouth Poet Laureate 2016-2017 • Bournemouth Schools Poetry judge for the Mayor’s Awards 2017 • Finalist of the So: To Speak Slam final October 2016 • Finalist Hip Yack Poetry Shack Slam July 2016 • Winner of Poetry Slam Online inaugural slam August 2015. • Judge for The Big Choc Raw Slam, Camberwell Arts Festival, June 2015. • Guest Speaker and poetry performance at The Way Forward social care conference, June 2015 • Poetry guest on Hope FM Community Matters and Livewire radio shows from June 2015 to Oct 2019 • Artfulscribe Showcase Slam runner-up, May 2015 • Rejector Slip Slam Champion, May 2014 LINKS http://www.writeoutloud.net/profiles/myriamsanmarco https://literatureworks.org.uk/writers/san-marco/ https://yackmagazine.com/yack-review-chocolate-poetry-club/ https://www.bournemouthscene.co.uk/single-post/2017/09/16/myriam-san-marco-on-mentorship-spoken-word-and-being-poet-laureate-of-bournemouth

Samples

YouTube video on : Murder Last night, limping, I walked. All the way to the edge of myself, scheming how to get out of this hellish crab bucket, these last 10 years corroding the alloy - slag of an ordinary day. It felt cold. My gun stashed into the the back of the wheelhouse. Hands shaking, I saw the tears stammering behind your eyes when I winched the rope out. From that moment, there was no going back. The fear, like a crouching adder, coiled around your lips, inviting you to kneel. Hands behind your back, I said, forcing a black hood over your head. It was tender, the two shots to the back of the neck, one to the heart, twisting my ankle, shoving you off the ship, I felt a kiss on my cheek, you floating away. Free, I cried. A kiss on your cheek, me, floating away free. You cried twisting your ankle, shoving me off the ship. I felt the two shots to the back of the neck, one to the heart forcing a black hood over my head. It was tender, inviting me to kneel, hands behind my back. You said, like a crouching adder coiled around my lips: “From this moment, there is no going back.” The fear stammering behind my eyes. When you winched the rope out the back of the wheelhouse, hands shaking, I saw the tears of an ordinary day. It felt cold, your gun. Stashed into the crab bucket, these last 10 years, corroding the alloy - slag of yourself, scheming. How to get out of this hellish last night? Limping, you walked all the way to the edge.

All poems are copyright of the originating author. Permission must be obtained before using or performing others' poems.

Blog entries by Myriam San Marco

Winning the first Poetry Slam Online interview (23/08/2015)

The Chocolate Poetry Club (23/08/2015)

Spoken Word Extravaganza - Talent Showcase (16/05/2015)

From Page to Stage writing workshops (16/05/2015)

Blog link: https://www.writeoutloud.net/blogs/myriamsanmarco