When I interviewed Madison Mae Parker it was clear that she was a writer and performer. She spoke with confidence and poise, navigating and articulating her answers effortlessly. But Madison Mae’s work takes poetry beyond the ordinary and expected: she takes it where it leads her. This fearless approach creates greater access points for audience members to connect. For Madison, it’s not even about poetry. It’s about what poetry allows us to experience and feel, how it brings us together. Poetry is the means by which an end is reached. And it’s for this reason that her work expands far beyond the boundaries of pen and page.
Details of new work and new ideas bubbled out of Madison as we continued to talk. It was impossible not to get excited. As a Charlotte Street Foundation studio resident, she’s had the opportunity to explore and share. Her fiery voice, infectious enthusiasm, and everything else that comes along with it will be on display at this year’s Open Studios event.

I’ve done sample pieces and I just ordered the large bolt of fabric so I can now do a six-foot piece. This idea will be in there and I’ll also be doing a performance involving stretch marks as well. And we’ll see if this works out but I bought a beige, skin-tone body suit to embroider my own stretch marks onto. So hopefully that works out and I’ll wear it for the performance section.
[Autumn]: So are you doing this entire project on your own, even the embroidery and fabric stuff? [Madison]: I am. It’s a new project I’m working on. I started learning how to sew about a year ago now. I was struggling to learn on my own and through YouTube videos, so my partner ended up getting me into sewing classes for my birthday back in the fall. I’ve been taking sewing classes and also teaching myself along the way. I think for a long-term project I’d love to have thirty-some-odd stretch mark pieces and I’d love to have people help me in that process. Also with embroidery, it’s one of those things that a lot of people can do—not that it’s easy, but it something that allows for different hands to be involved in the process. I’m hoping that once the project starts taking off, I can invite more people into the show with me, but in the initial stages I’m just working on it by myself. [Autumn]: I know Charlotte Street kind of defines you as a writer, but obviously you also do performance and visual pieces. How do you reconcile those things? Is visual art part of writing or is it kind of its own thing? [Madison]: In all of my work the text comes first. The text informs the rest of the project and a lot of my text is very image driven too. I think about how I can bring the text to life in other formats, whether that’s through performance or through a visual project. I try to make more access points for people to relate to poetry because I think sometimes people are like, “I don’t really get poems.” But maybe if you don’t get poems, perhaps you can understand a poem through movement or through a visual project—just trying to find more access points into poetry for people to connect and create doorways for those conversations to happen.
But tonight I’m doing a house show, which is a way more normal, DIY
And then there’s a musician—and I cannot do music, I love music but I’m not a musician—and it’s two sisters and they’re in a band together called CocoRosie. Their aesthetic is very like creepy, feminine, and ethereal and that’s kind of the aesthetic that I hope is conveyed in a lot of the work I create. Those are two artists in particular that I draw a lot of inspiration from, as of recent at least. I think a lot also comes from conversations with people in my community and my friends. I also coach and teach youth poetry over at Mattie Rhodes. I learn constantly from those students and the conversations I get to have with them.
[Autumn]: So going back to that idea of audience interaction, how do you want the audience to interact with your work? How do you want them to respond and what does that dynamic look like? [Madison]: My background in performance first started through slam poetry. I still host and coach slam poetry, but I don’t really slam myself that much these days. When I’m hosting, we’ll say “Poetry is a conversation” and I still believe that even outside of slam. We tell people to snap or clap when they like something—to interact with it. I think that was my first access point with performance and it allowed me to find an entryway. I think for a long time I was like, “Oh, I like writing but I’m not a writer,” or “I like poetry but I’m not a poet.” It kind of gave me an access point to hold onto it a bit more for myself and feel like part of the community, even if I didn’t feel comfortable including myself in it yet—like because of imposter syndrome or whatever it is that every artist feels. I think that remains continuous.In all of my work I try to remind people that they are not alone because that is how I found art. I felt like I was super alone and sty was a way for me to feel connected to people and feel less alone in my story. I think regardless of what kind of performance I’m doing or if someone’s reading a book of mine or whatever it might be, that they feel like their story is important and their story matters. Even if they’ve not experienced the direct story that I’m conveying through my work, we’ve all experienced sadness of some kind or happiness or joy or heartbreak or whatever it is—you can at least relate on an emotional level. Conversations and dialogue occur from that and create access points and doorways into art in general.

Madison Mae continues to push boundaries and explore beyond the ordinary. Immerse yourself in her work on April 20 at Open Studios. Come to experience her heart and soul and leave learning something new about yourself.