Dream Poet for Hire
Marshall James Kavanaugh is a successfully published writer and performance dream poet for hire. Marshall carries with him to Taos's local markets a little typewriter, where he spontaneously writes poetry for people on any topic. "So basically, I'll set up with a typewriter out on the street, and then people come at me with their topics or their stories, or, you know, what they're feeling that day," Marshall stated. He then reads aloud to his audience, which almost always inspires warmth and inspiration into their hearts.
What Drives Marshall to do Poetry
Though he didn't think he was brilliant at poetry at a young age, he became a really gifted poet. As he grew up, he read more work from various authors, which awakened his knowledge of using words. His realization that words are actually fun to play with sparked his love for poetry.
Marshall enjoys being personal with his audience and introducing people to the beauty of words. He is motivated by his ability to demonstrate to people that you can use words to express yourself in the most creative and impactful manner. Hence the reason he likes to perform to a more random and public audience.
He believes that people who are walking on the streets would not normally find it interesting to attend a poetry reading. But such people are fascinated at finding a poet in the middle of the streets. It's a surprise that many enjoy.
Training
Though Marshall studied English literature in his undergraduate and college years, he honestly believes that real training is when you are living poetry out therein the real world. He also really values the inspiration he gets from reading books.
He believes that the best training comes from living life, getting to have fun, anger, as well as sorrow, among all other emotions that life brings along. Such experiences give a person the best training they need to become authentic poets.
Effects of COVID on Marshall's Work
Marshall feels like society has long been distant from one another, especially when you consider that people usually don't interact on the streets. Everyone minds their own business in the streets. He feels that his poetry was a great way to break that distance and maybe allow people to engage in some conversation.
Because of the lockdown that happened due to COVID, he could no longer connect with people as he loves. This forced him to switch avenues and have a more personalized poetry presentation to the digital live stream world. Even though the digital platform was not his cup of tea, it really gave his audience much hope as they waited to see what transpired with COVID.
Marshall's Motivation to Keep Going
Marshall knows that his audience uses his poetry as a guide in their lives, and it also offers them incredible space to be healed of many vices in life. Being able to help people in this manner also keeps him going even during this scarily COVID era. He also gets healing and satisfaction in knowing that he is doing good for many people.
Marshall's Published Work
Marshall has been able to publish a collection of interesting short stories as well as haikus. These were published in Philadelphia's Freedom Books, a small press, between 2015 and 2016. Lately, Marshall has been able to publish a couple of chapbooks and shorter essay collections. Smaller presses have published these within the country. He is optimistic about publishing more work as the year 2020 ends.
WEBSITE:
marshalljameskavanaugh.com
SOCIAL MEDIA:
@dreampoetforhire
EMAIL:
info@marshalljameskavanaugh.com
