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First Friday Poetry Reading: Marie Brown

Presented by Inprint at Inprint House

December 10, 2010

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Inprint's First Friday Poetry Reading Series presents Marie Brown, December 10, 2010.

Marie Brown, a native of San Antonio, Texas, is a poet, spoken-word artist and songwriter who has lived in Houston for over twenty years. A former member of the Texas Southern University Debate Team under the leadership of Dr. Thomas F. Freeman, Marie placed first in prose at the University of Nebraska in 1988 as a rookie member of the team. She also won first place for prose, drama-interpretation in Houston’s People's Workshop’s Sammy Awards at the Wortham Center in 1988; In 2002, Marie served as a member of Houston Poetry Slam Inaugural Team and placed 8th out of fifty-four entries.

Marie has shared her poetry with academia, special events and fundraisers, including The University of Houston Scholarship Fund sponsored by the Delphian Chapters, and The AIDS Foundation of Houston at the Kilworth Manor, produced by Cuz and Company and sponsored her own fundraiser to benefit the Houston Poetry Slam Team 2003.

Marie Brown is a “clean” poet who addresses social, political, spiritual, testimonial, and comical issues and spoken-word artistry.

Marie discovered at the tender age of ten, that the stories she was being told and books she was reading had no black Cinderellas or Princes--so she started writing her own poetry, stories and songs.

As a teenager, Marie was told by a black man she admired and respected, that he would never marry a black woman because they had low self esteem and were not motivated. Five years later when Marie was a fully matured woman, she met the same man and his white female companion. The man could not keep his eyes off of Marie--so much that eventually, his companion became upset. A conversation resulted between the two--a conversation that inspired the poem “Queen Bee” Though "QueenBee" was written over twenty years ago many African American women can still relate to the sentiment that inspired it.

Marie feels it is her duty as a poet to motivate, stimulate and educate listeners and readers. One of her most controversial poem stems from inspiration resulting from viewing a news commentary addressing the epidemic rape rate among young virgin girls in South Africa by men seeink a mythical cure for AIDS, Marie wrote "Idiot Splinter," a poem featured on her "Ruby Do Hair" CD. Ten percent of all these CD sales benefit the GRIP organization. GRIP is an organization which provides health needs and support to children rape victims of South Africa.

Marie's most popular CD, "Ruby Do Hair," is produced by Taji of Thin Man Productions and Karega of Blacklight Entertainment. Other poets featured include Inertia, CEO of Pop up Poetry, and Keisha McBride, lead vocalist and Blackchylde, independent artist. Marie’s latest offering is her CD entitled “Home Grown.’
Inprint is proud to serve as a host for the First Friday Poetry Reading Series. The First Friday Series is the oldest poetry series in

Houston and has been held monthly on the first Friday of each month since 1975. The series is coordinated by Robert Clark, who may be e-mailed at houstonfirstfri@aol.com . The featured poet is always followed by and open mike.