Marthe Reed, age 59, died suddenly on April 10. She will be long remembered for her abiding love, and for the ethical vision that grounded her productive outrage at social injustice and environmental destruction, as well as for her enormous kindness to those in need. She was a scholar, a poet, an artist and a political activist. She held a BA (1982; Creative Writing) and MA (1990; English and American Literature) from the University of California San Diego, an MFA (1985; Poetry) from Brown University and a PhD (2008; English and Cultural Studies) from the University of Western Australia. Reed was the author of six books: Ark Hive (Operating System, forthcoming), Nights Reading (Lavender Ink, 2014), Pleth, with j hastain (Unlikely Books, 2013), (em)bodied bliss (Moria Books, 2013), Gaze (Black Radish Books, 2010), and Tender Box, A Wunderkammer (Lavender Ink, 2007). She was also co-editor, with Linda Russo, of an anthology of essays and poetry, Counter-Desecration: A Glossary for Writing in the Anthropocene, forthcoming from Wesleyan University Press. She has published chapbooks as part of the Dusie Kollektiv, as well as with above/ground press, Shirt Pocket Press, Smoking Glue Gun, and Locofo Chaps. Her poetry has been published in New American Writing, Golden Handcuffs Review, Entropy, New Orleans Review, HOW2, Fairy Tale Review, Exquisite Corpse, BlazeVOX, and The Offending Adam, among others. Her poetry reviews have appeared in Jacket2, Galatea Resurrects, Openned, Cut Bank, New Pages, The Rumpus and Rain Taxi. Reed guest edited the Dusie Ecopoethos Issue (#17), and was co-publisher and managing editor for Black Radish Books and publisher of Nous-zōt Press chapbooks.
Reed held a number of academic positions, including serving as the Director of the Creative Writing Program at UL Lafayette 2010-2013, and as a Humanities Faculty Fellow at Syracuse University 2015-2017. She is survived by her husband Mike Kalish, their two children Zeke and Marci, her two brothers Mike and John, her two sisters Malinda and Bess, two dogs, two cats, and a wide world of friends and admirers. Donations in her memory can be made to Planned Parenthood, Black Lives Matter, the Food Bank of CNY, or the National Resources Defense Council.
Reed held a number of academic positions, including serving as the Director of the Creative Writing Program at UL Lafayette 2010-2013, and as a Humanities Faculty Fellow at Syracuse University 2015-2017. She is survived by her husband Mike Kalish, their two children Zeke and Marci, her two brothers Mike and John, her two sisters Malinda and Bess, two dogs, two cats, and a wide world of friends and admirers. Donations in her memory can be made to Planned Parenthood, Black Lives Matter, the Food Bank of CNY, or the National Resources Defense Council.
