I offer my work to illustrate that even in grief and loss, there is abundant life and love; even in suffering, there is grandeur and exuberance.
Marilyn McVicker holds a fascination and life-long commitment to the meaning and power of words. She offers testimony to what is difficult to express, a marginalized voice that needs to be heard.
Featured Work
I Still Sing Your Lullabies: A mother’s love & loss
Long Field Publications, 2025
I Still Sing Your Lullabies, A mother’s love & loss, is a dramatic story of love and loss. It is the voice of a mother who lost custody of her children, the story of a family broken apart, children who grew up without their mother because of legal maneuvers that protected and favored the economic interests of fathers. It is the story of a mother deprived of her children, children living with a father who wanted control and economic gain, not the daily tasks associated with parenting. Although this sketch narrates an experience from the 1990s, it is as pertinent today as it was then, in depicting the fallout of oppression.
“This book is an amazing and beautiful look into Marilyn McVicker’s inner world of love and loss. Read it, then read it again. The rhythm of McVicker’s writing is a combination of poetry and prose that provides a full framework for her story, and not just her story. This is the story of every mother who wanted her children but could not have them nearby. One of the most poignant effects is the loss of physical contact with children, as love can be expressed so vividly by the senses in the presence of others. McVicker knows this story inside and out. She offers a vivid description of the intersection of love and loss.”
— Anita McCurley
Recently Published
As for Life: A memoir in poetry exploring the isolation & loss of chronic illness
Marilyn McVicker dedicated this full-length collection of poetry to those living with chronic illness, to her body, for surviving, and to cortisone, immune globulin and antibiotics, without which she would not be alive. Marilyn wanted to give voice to what it feels like to live with chronic illness. She wanted to write the book she wished she could have found. Determined to focus on what she can do, rather than all she can no longer do, Marilyn exhibits a resilience and love-of-life that is unflagging.
Marilyn states, “I must warn the reader that my writing is not intended to be uplifting or inspirational. For every moment of emotion I have captured on paper, there are other experiences, just as strong, but opposite. It has been a balancing act to learn to accept how I feel on any given day, to embrace and accept my own humanity.”
Awarded North Carolina Poetry Society’s
2020 LENA SHULL BOOK CONTEST
Honorable Mention
About Marilyn
Learn more about her background, aspirations, accomplishments and quest to live a life full of meaning.
Books
Marilyn’s other published works approach changes in life, health and family, with the need to keep moving forward. Discover for yourself, the vivid accounts and informative perspectives portrayed in her books.
Poems
Many of Marilyn’s poems have been published elsewhere. We invite you to read and listen to some of her work.
Marilyn’s work is poignant and powerful. Her poems and stories relate moments that are hauntingly raw, an honest offering of the unspeakable, a look behind the curtain of silence.