Peter Marra

Originally from Gravesend Brooklyn, Peter Marra lived in the East Village, New York from 1979 to 1993 at the height of the punk / no wave / art and music rebellion. Peter has had a lifelong fascination with Surrealism, Dadaism, and Symbolism, some of his favorite writers being Paul Eluard, Arthur Rimbaud, Tristan Tzara, Edgar Allan Poe, and Henry Miller. His favorite artists are Salvador Dali, Felicien Rops, Dante Rossetti and Amedeo Modigliani. Peter also cites Roger Corman and Russ Meyer as influences.

His earliest recollection of the writing process is, as a 1st grader, creating a children’s book with illustrations. The only memory he has of this project is a page that contained a crayon drawing of an airplane, caught in a storm. The caption read: “The people are on a plane. It is going to crash. They are very scared.” His parents were always disturbed by that 1st book and particularly by his love for writing.

A Dadaist and a Surrealist, Peter’s writing explores alienation, addiction, love, lust, the havoc that secrets can wreak, and obsessions, often recounted in an oneiric filmic haze with a taste of the grindhouse. He wishes to find new methods of description and language manipulation.

Peter has had over 100 poems published in print or online in journals such as Caper Literary Journal, Danse Macabre, Maintenant 4 and 5, Yes, Poetry, Literary Orphans, The Carnage Conservatory, Carcinogenic, Calliope Nerve, Unlikely Stories and Why Vandalism? His chapbook “Sins of the Go-Go Girls” was published in April 2013 by Why Vandalism? Press (http://journal.whyvandalism.com/sins-of-the-go-go-girls.html).

Two of his short stories are in the anthologies Have a NYC and Have a NYC2. His short story “Expert Collisions,” recounting his experiences on 9/11,was published in Evergreen Review in September 2013 and will be also appear in "From Somewhere to Nowhere: The End of the American Dream", which will be coming out in 2014 from Unbearable Books/Autonomedia. On 10/2/13 his poem "glass faces" was nominated by Literary Orphans for "Sundress Publications' "Best of the Net."

"Peep-o-rama," a collection of poems, has been published by Hammer and Anvil Press and is available on Amazon Kindle.

His published work may be viewed at www.angelferox.com.

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Raves for "peep-o-rama":

Peep-O-Rama, the new collection of poems by Peter Marra, is a marvel. From the opening poem, ‘A Legitimate Cinematic Sexual Partner,’ to a photo of the 42nd Street pornos near the end of the book, Peter balances precariously on the edge of a razor but never falls; he mixes and matches surreal juxtapositions with gritty sex perfectly. Read this book and get off mentally as well as physically.

--Ron Kolm, Editor of the Evergreen Review and author of Divine Comedy.

I’ve had the great honor to publish and work beside Peter Marra for the past two years. For any fan of underground poetry, any fan with insight, Peter Marra is the unsung hero of our world. He doesn't write for me, he doesn't write for you, and some days I wonder if he even writes for himself; Peter writes for the manic soul of American poetry itself. Peep o-rama is a collection that represents Peter at his most distilled; it's the kind of work smug people with smug teeth cite as influences ten years down the road on NBC, and you wonder what the hell they're talking about. If 100 people buy this book, you can bet there will be 100 new poets out there by the end of next year. You can count me as the first.

Mike Joyce, Editor-in-Chief of Literary Orphans