In this episode of Next Up to The Mic, we welcome Ian Macks who was our featured reader at Brass Tacks at The Low Beat on March 19, 2019.
Dan Wilcox detailed the reading on his blog:
Ian Macks, tonight’s featured poet, is back in town with his poems after a hiatus with AmeriCorps. He began with some poems from a chapbook he produced when he was in his 20s, the poems titled “Dr. Manhattan,” “Cradle,” & “Now This” (brain freeze). His poems were a mix of topics & moods but all sprung from his day-to-day experiences, such as observing others at a bar, or a homeless man, or at Starbucks (titled ironically enough “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”). He included a couple of poems written as definitions, “Vulnerability” & “Windswept.” Others included a poem on mortality titled “When Your Car is on Fire…,” “The Drop,” & personal meditations like “What Does It Take to Get You Off,” “Eulogy for the Former Me,” & “Flatiron.” His last poem was a letter to a friend who ended up in jail. We’re glad to have his voice & words back here in Poetry Capital.
Ian Macks is a 27-year-old poet based out of Troy, New York. Originally raised in the Bronx until 10 years old, Macks felt the actions and emotions of love, loss, racism, and hardship all while being non-verbal for half of that decade. This sensitive perspective of life is what fuels Ian’s poetry, and that light shines brightly throughout Identity Crisis, coming out this summer on Amazon and Barnes and Noble through recto y verso editions inc.
Please welcome, next up to the mic, Ian Macks.
Bonus Video
Ian Macks reading at Brass Tacks at The Low Beat in Albany, NY on Tuesday, January 7, 2020.
Music Credit
Our theme music was “Imagination” by Danijel Zambo. License code: 44TCGFPF1L1434BE
Listen and Subscribe
Thank you for listening to Next Up to The Mic. We couldn’t do it without the very generous supporters of local poetry and spoken word. If you would like to support this or other Albany Poets projects, please go to albanypoets.com/donate. And if you are a business and want to sponsor this podcast, send an email to albanypoets@gmail.com.
