Quintessential Listening: Poetry Online Radio Presents Mark Fishbein

Mark Fishbein (Poet With Guitar) was born in Brooklyn, NY.  He got a BA in Literature from CCNY in 1970, and attended the Sorbonne in Paris for French Literature.  Rejecting an academic life, he found a career in the flourishing screen printing and t-shirt dyeing industry, raising a family in NYC, always “with a book of poems in his pocket”. In 2018, Mark left the industry and immediately re-engaged with poetry. At this time, Mark has 5 books available on Amazon, including Stances, 2018 and an ekphrastic book Poems Hanging in a Wall (2020). He has published in a variety of publications from the Hill Rag to the American Atheist Magazine. His most recent work “Reflections in the Time of Trumpius Maximus,” a collection of 50 political poems written 2016-2021 (Atmosphere Press, 2021). He has also translated a collection by the French poet Paul Eluard. Online, Mark is host to weekly writers workshops, and a unique Zoom event, Planet Poetry 28, a monthly virtual magazine introducing poets from around the world who uniquely perform their poetry while showing the work on Share Screen. Mark is on the ExeCom of PGN-Poetry Global Network. He is Chancellor of “The Poetry Academy”, which offers workshops and study events focusing of subjects of interest to the modern Zoom generation of poets. Now retired, with a desire to teach poetry on the college level, Mark is currently enrolled in Columbia College, Chicago, for an MFA in Poetry, by Spring 2025. After decades of self-taught playing, Mark took up classical guitar in 2000 and currently plays professionally at art openings, poetry readings, weddings etc. He often combines his poetry reading with his eclectic music style. He now lives in Chicago with his wife Elaine, whom he met in a protest rally against the war in Vietnam. They have two sons and three grandchildren www.poetwithguitar.com.