In Loving Memory of Jennifer Martelli
We send love to the family and friends of MER’s Poetry Co-Editor Jennifer Martelli on her passing. We are heartsick at this untimely loss.
Jenn was a brilliant, unique poet, an astute editor, a brave and principled person, a gifted teacher, a loving family member and warm and dear friend. She was active in many poetry communities, including the Thursday Poets, Warren Wilson alumni, IAWA, local Salem and Massachusetts poet groups, and more. She participated in and co-ran several reading series. She was valiant in her fight against cancer, and in her political activism. Funny, whip-smart, honest and un-afraid, Jenn was a loving partner to Vinny and proud mom to Mia and Michael.
We feel privileged to have worked with her on MER and to have been her friend through many poetry adventures. We grieve the loss of our dear Jenn; we will miss her sorely, but her words and example will shine on. May her light remain in our memories and in the world.
We are lucky to have so many of her words, in books and journals. Please visit her website, www.jennmartelli.com, to read her poems, and treat yourself to her amazing, revelatory books.
Jennifer Martelli received fellowships from The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Monson Arts, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Her work appeared in The Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day, Poetry, Best of the Net Anthology, Braving the Body Anthology, Verse Daily, Plume, The Tahoma Literary Review, and elsewhere. She is the author of Psychic Party Under the Bottle Tree (Lily Poetry Review Books), as well as The Queen of Queens, which won the Italian American Studies Association Book Award and was shortlisted for the Massachusetts Book Award. Jennifer Martelli attended Boston University and The Warren Wilson M.F.A. Program for Writers. She has taught both high school and college. Jennifer Martelli, with Cindy Veach, served as Poetry Co-editor for MER, editing the print journal and curating MER Quarterly Online folios.
We will post more about Jennifer in the days to come.
Marjorie, Cindy, JP, Ana, JL, and Melissa
