Radha Marcum
Poet & Author
Available Now
Pine Soot Tendon Bone
(2024)
Winner of the Washington Prize
Radha Marcum’s second book of poems is an elegy for our times, lamenting unfolding crises—wildfires, climate change, gun violence—alongside personal loss and uprootedness. The title refers to traditional ingredients of Japanese sumi-e ink stone and, like that art, each poem is born of the elements of nature and the hand of an artist who is exacting yet compassionate, aware of the perils we face in a fractured world while still able to see the beauty in it.
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Available Now!
"Radha Marcum writes unflinchingly and with a rare synthesis of lyric and scientific intelligence, investigating just what it is to exist with consciousness now. Charged, luminous, and hard-won, these poems are indispensable."
–Carol Moldaw, author of Beauty Refracted
Praise & Reviews
"In Pine Soot Tendon Bone Marcum reminds us, in details that will live in our skin and dreams forever, that attention and embodiment are central to our survival. That when we say yes to the grief of now, we say yes to every soaring hawk, every fire-scarred ponderosa, and to each other."
–Amy Irvine, author of Desert Cabal: A New Season in the Wilderness
“In this prize-winning book, with champion empathy and visual prowess, Radha Marcum invites us to feel and sense more deeply our dynamic, contradictory world, insisting time and again on attentive poetry's gorgeous music and crisp, accurate magic.”
—Cyrus Cassells, 2021 Texas Poet Laureate and author of Is There Room for Another Horse on Your Horse Ranch?
Upcoming Events
Readings & Workshops
Pine Soot Tendon Bone
READINGS
Aug 17, 7:30PM MT — Bad Mouth (Albuquerque, NM)
Sept 8, 3:00-4:30PM MT — BookWoman (Virtual & Austin, TX) with Sasha West
Sept 10, 7:00-8:30PM MT — Trident Cafe & Books (Boulder, CO) with April Tierney
October 17, 6:00PM MT — Bread & Poetry (Lyons, CO)
October 26, 6:00PM MT — SOMOS (Taos, NM) with Lauren Camp
Dec 5, 7:00PM MT — East Window (Boulder, CO) with Tina Carlson & Will Barnes
Author Bio
Radha Marcum is a poet, writer, editor, and teacher with a focus on the intersection of the environment, culture, and personal history. She is the recipient of the 2023 Washington Prize for her collection, Pine Soot Tendon Bone (The Word Works, 2024). Marcum's first poetry collection, Bloodline (3: A Taos Press, 2017), which delves into her grandfather's involvement in building the first atomic bombs in New Mexico during World War II, won the New Mexico-Arizona Book Award in Poetry in 2018.
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Resources for Poets
Poetry Publishing & Manuscript Consults
For poets looking to polish and publish a significant body of work, such as a chapbook or full-length collection, Radha offers consults to explore personalized coaching and other resources. Sign up for a free consultation.
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Poet to Poet, Radha's newsletter on Substack
Poet to Poet is a newsletter for poets that looks behind the scenes at the process of writing and publishing, offering practical tips plus interviews with contemporary poets about their latest books.
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Poet Interviews & Recorded Classes on YouTube
The Poet to Poet YouTube video collection includes masterclasses on poetry manuscript development by Radha Marcum and her interviews with contemporary poets about the process behind their latest books.
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