KING, Martha 1937-

PERSONAL: Born April 10, 1937, in Charlottesville, VA; daughter of Lambert (an editor) and Isabella (a playwright; maiden name, Symmers) Davis; married Basil King (a painter and poet), March 7, 1958; children: Mallory Lambert Sawasdiskosol, Hetty Malke. Education: Attended University of North Carolina, 1954, and Black Mountain College, 1954-55.

ADDRESSES: Home—326-A Fourth St., Brooklyn, NY 11215. Office—733 Third Ave., New York, NY 10017. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Poet.

WRITINGS:

Weather (poetry), illustrations by Basil King, New Rivers Press (New York, NY), 1978.

Seventeen Walking Sticks (poetry and memoir), Stop Press, 1998.

Little Tales of Family and War, 1990-1999 (fiction), Spuyten Duyvil (New York, NY), 2000.

(With others) Separate Parts: Six Memory Pieces, Avec Books (Penngrove, CA), 2002.

Imperfect Fit: Selected Poems, Marsh Hawk Press (New York, NY), 2003.

Contributor of poetry, prose, and criticism to numerous magazines, including New American Writing, St. Marks Poetry Project Newsletter, Bomb, Contact, Ikon, First Intensity, Hanging Loose, and Chelsea.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Second collection of short stories for Spuyten Duyvil Press; "Max Sees Red," an art-world detective story; "Life in Rose," a memoir.

SIDELIGHTS: Martha King told CA: "I hope that why I write isn't as interesting to readers as what I write. I hope that readers take away a sense of the things that lie unnoticed at the bottom of the medicine cabinet, the story that wasn't told by the guy who bored you at the party. I hope to encourage anger. I don't think writing is therapeutic, or more accurately, I wouldn't write for publication if I thought I was writing to rid myself of demons. There is so much in the world that needs changing. Anger is a precious energy for that purpose, but only if one is willing to hear and to see with precision. I hope I make a contribution to that purpose."