Morton Marcus

{{Infobox person

|name = Morton Marcus

|image = MortMarcus.jpg

|caption = ^{Photo by Jana Marcus}

|birth_date = {{birth date|mf=yes|1936|09|10}}

|birth_place = New York City, New York, United States

|death_date = {{death date and age|mf=yes|2009|10|28|1936|09|10}}

|death_place = Santa Cruz, California, United States

|occupation = Poet

|website = {{url|http://mortonmarcus.com}}

}}

Morton Marcus (1936–2009) was an American poet. He also published a novel and a memoir.

Biography

Marcus had more than 500 poems published in literary journals across the country, including Poetry (Chicago), TriQuarterly, Ploughshares, Chelsea, The Chicago Review, The Iowa Review, Zyzzyva, Poetry Northwest, and The Denver Quarterly. Four times his work was selected to appear in prize poetry annuals (The Borestone Mountain Awards of 1967 and 1975, and the 1985 and 1987 Anthology of Magazine Verse). His work has appeared in over 90 anthologies. He has also served as the poet in residence for several universities and led workshops at colleges across America. Marcus was also a long-time co-host of The Poetry Show on KUSP (a former Santa Cruz public radio station). It was the longest-running poetry radio show in the United States.{{cite web | title=KUSP.org (archived 2015-02-22) | url=http://blogs.kusp.org/poetryshow/| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150222202850/http://blogs.kusp.org/poetryshow/ | archive-date=2015-02-22 }}

Outside of the literary world, Marcus created a sixteen-part television review of film Movie Milestones, which has been shown on cable networks throughout the United States, along with being the main visual source of film history at AFTRS, the Australian national film school. His film reviews became part of a television show, Cinema Scene,{{Cite web |url=http://www.cinemascene.org/ |title=Cinema Scene - Home |access-date=2010-12-22 |archive-date=2011-06-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110627034725/http://cinemascene.org/ |url-status=dead }} shown in the San Francisco Bay Area, which he co-hosted with Richard von Busack. In addition to writing and reviewing movies, Marcus also taught film and English at Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz.

He died of renal cancer on October 28, 2009.{{cite news |url=https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/obituaries/morton-marcus/ |newspaper=Santa Cruz Sentinen |accessdate=July 30, 2024 |title=Morton Marcus: Obituary}}

Legacy

Marcus's poetry archive, working papers, interviews, and correspondence are held in the Special Collections at University of California, Santa Cruz.{{cite web|url=http://guides.library.ucsc.edu/speccoll/collections-overview|title= UC Santa Cruz Library Special Collections|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171212220642/http://guides.library.ucsc.edu/speccoll/collections-overview|archive-date=2017-12-12|url-status=dead}} The Morton Marcus Memorial Poetry Reading has become an established annual poetry reading series, bringing some of the most accomplished poets in the country to Santa Cruz County. This yearly event is held in November each year, is free to the public, and is sponsored by UC Santa Cruz, Cabrillo College, Ow Family Properties, Bookshop Santa Cruz, and the family of Morton Marcus.{{cn|date=July 2024}}

Bibliography

Morton Marcus published eleven volumes of poetry.

Origins (6 editions 1969–1974){{Citation

| isbn = 978-0-87711-045-3 | title = Origins

| last1 = Marcus

| first1 = Morton

| date = June 1973

| publisher = Red Hen Press

}}

The Santa Cruz Mountain Poems (3 editions 1972–1992){{Citation

| isbn = 978-0-912264-46-2 | title = The Santa Cruz Mountain Poems

| last1 = Marcus

| first1 = Morton

| year = 1972

| publisher = Capra Press

}}

Where the Oceans Cover Us (1972){{Citation

| isbn = 978-0-912264-40-0 | title = Where the Oceans Cover Us

| last1 = Marcus

| first1 = Morton

| year = 1972

| publisher = Capra Press

}}

Armies Encamped in the Fields Beyond the Unfinished Avenues (1977){{Citation

| title = Armies Encamped in the Fields Beyond the Unfinished Avenues (no ISBN issued)

}}

Big Winds, Glass Mornings, Shadows Cast by Stars (2 editions 1981–1988){{Citation

| isbn = 978-0-937310-06-9 | title = Big Winds, Glass Mornings, Shadows Cast by Stars

| last1 = Marcus

| first1 = Morton

| year = 1981

| publisher = Jazz Press

}}

Pages from a Scrapbook of Immigrants (1988){{Citation | isbn = 978-0-918273-47-5 | title = Pages from a Scrapbook of Immigrants | url = https://archive.org/details/pagesfromscrapbo00marc_0 | last1 = Marcus | first1 = Morton | year = 1988 | publisher = Coffee House Press }}
When People Could Fly (1997){{Citation

| isbn = 978-1-882413-44-7 | title = When People Could Fly

| last1 = Marcus

| first1 = Morton

| year = 1997

| publisher = Hanging Loose Press

}}

Shouting Down the Silence: Verse Poems, 1988–2001 (pub. 2002){{Citation

| isbn = 978-0-88739-453-9 | title = Shouting Down the Silence: Verse Poems, 1988–2001

| last1 = Marcus

| first1 = Morton

| year = 2002

| publisher = Creative Arts Book Company

}}

Moments Without Names: New & Selected Prose Poems (2002){{Citation | isbn = 978-1-893996-51-9 | title = Moments Without Names: New & Selected Prose Poems | url = https://archive.org/details/momentswithoutna00marc | last1 = Marcus | first1 = Morton | year = 2002 | publisher = White Pine Press }}
Pursuing The Dream Bone (2007){{Citation

| isbn = 978-0-9744503-9-1 | title = Pursuing The Dream Bone

| last1 = Marcus

| first1 = Morton

| year = 2007

| publisher = Quale Press

}}