Margaret Ann Griffiths

Margaret Ann Griffiths

Margaret Ann Griffiths , often MA Griffith (born May 23, 1947 in London , † July 13, 2009 in Poole ) was a British poet . She published under the pseudonyms MAZ and Grasshopper .

Life

Margaret Ann Griffiths was born in London and spent her childhood and youth there. She studied archeology at Cardiff University, lived for some time in Bracknell and later moved to Poole, where she looked after her sick parents until their death in 1993. Griffiths, also known by the Internet pseudonyms "Grasshopper" and "Maz", began posting her poems online in 2001. Instead of seeking publication through traditional channels, she was content to work with fellow poets on various Internet forums, including Sonnet-Central where she was the presenter. On the rare occasions she submitted work for publication, it was usually sites like Snakeskin, Miller 'Pond, and the Shit Creek Review. During the mid-2000s, she worked from home, running a small Internet-based business, and working on Poetry Worm, a monthly magazine distributed via email. Griffiths had suffered from gastric disease for years, to which she eventually succumbed. She died in July 2009.

poetry

Griffiths dealt with a wide range of subjects, in free verse and traditional forms. Although popular with formalists on poetry forums, she avoided such categories, writing, "The separation between free and formal verse, as if one is better than the other, confuses me." Largely ignoring contemporary currents and schools, she practiced an imaginative use of language rather than radically experimenting. She often wrote narrative poems and dramatic monologues and gave her voice to historical figures and literary figures. [6] Although known to few academic critics, MA Griffiths has over the years acquired a significant international readership (many of her readers are poets themselves). In 2008 her "Opening a Jar of Dead Sea Mud" won the annual Eratosphere Sonnet Prize and was praised by Richard Wilbur. That same year she was a guest poet on the Academy of American Poets website, where she was hailed as "one of the emerging poets of our time". After her death, American poet Timothy Murphy wrote, "It's a shame Margaret Griffiths never conquered the TLS, PN Review and Faber. She would have been better. But that wouldn't have been her style. Instead, she went to some 'zines and did." won our hearts under a pseudonym. She was a masterful poet, and is deeply missed.

Posthumous publication

Almost immediately after her death was announced on Eratosphere, poets from all over the English-speaking world began collecting their work for posthumous publication. Roger Collett of Arrowhead Press (a non-profit publisher in County Durham, England) had asked Griffiths for a manuscript to publish a selection while still alive. David Anthony of Stoke Poges, Buckingham, England took the lead in securing rights. Poets and editors formed a task force to produce and promote the book, with members from London, Derbyshire, Scotland, Wales, Queensland, New South Wales, Massachusetts, New York, Minnesota, Missouri, Maryland, California and Texas.

Works

• Grasshopper: The Poetry of MA Griffiths (Arrowhead Press, 2011) ISBN 978-1-904852-28-5

Web links

• Literature by and about Margaret Ann Griffiths in the WorldCat bibliographic database
• Grasshopper: The Poetry of MA Griffiths , Arrowhead Press (UK), January 2011
• Grasshopper: The Poetry of MA Griffiths , Able Muse Press (USA and Canada), April 2011
• "Admirers rescue internet poet from virtual oblivion after death" , The Times of London , February 11, 2011 (subscribers only)
• "Reclusive Poole poet built worldwide following" , The Bournemouth Echo , October 1, 2009
• imo grasshopper , memorial website with announcements and links
• Review of Grasshopper by Maryann Corbett in RATTLE , March 2011
• MA Griffiths memorial issue of the Shit Creek Review , February 2011
• "Goodbye Grasshopper" by Alan Wickes, September 2009
• "Burgundy" by Rob Godfrey, September 2009
• The Poetry Worm , formerly edited by MA Griffiths
• Well-known Poems Index by MA Griffiths , Stoner et al., December 2009

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Biography ( Memento of the original from July 15, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , David Adkins, February 28, 2010 
2. ^ "Afters" by MA Griffiths , Snakeskin, March 2004
3. ↑ Three Poems by MA Griffiths , miller's pond, Summer 2005
4. ↑ "Holes in the News" by MA Griffiths ( Memento of the original from February 2, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , The Shit Creek Review, November 2006 
5. ^ "Truth and Fiction in the Poetry of MA Griffiths" by Julie Stoner, The Shit Creek Review, February 2011
6. ↑ MA Griffiths interviewed on the Academy of American Poets website ( Memento of the original from July 15, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. August 2008 
7. ^ Discussion thread with contributions from many published poets, including Maryann Corbett, AM Juster, Susan McLean, Timothy Murphy and AE Stallings, September 2009
8. ^ "Opening a Jar of Dead Sea Mud" by MA Griffiths, Sonnet Bake-off thread
9. ↑ MA Griffiths interviewed on the Academy of American Poets website ( Memento of the original from July 15, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , August 2008