Instagram story viewer> @illuminatemics> Posts

Nate Marshall

@illuminatemics

10.2K

followers

1557

following

Husband. Dad. Author of FINNA, Wild Hundreds, etc. Poet. Professor. Editor. MC. Nupe.

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Download All

Something new is coming to Mouthful of Salt. 👀

Monday October 12 by @illuminatemics

20

2

9 hours ago

"Good morn' or evening, friends⁣
Here's your friendly announcer⁣
I have serious news to pass on to everybody⁣
What I'm about to say⁣
Could mean the world's disaster⁣
Could change your joy and laughter to tears and pain⁣
⁣
It's that love's in need of love today⁣
Don't delay, send yours in right away⁣
Hate's goin' 'round breaking many hearts⁣
Stop it please before it's gone too far"⁣
—Stevie Wonder, Love's in Need of Love⁣
⁣
Something new, something old, SOMETHING BLUE 💙⁣
⁣
From award-winning author Nate Marshall @illuminatemics, this third collection is a book of love songs and elegies, weddings and funerals, family and friendship, new life and lingering grief. Written with his signature tender, affecting voice, SOMETHING BLUE asks what it means to keep choosing love in a world that keeps giving us reasons to mourn—because even in “a beautiful, bruised continent,” there will always be love.⁣
⁣
Swipe for an excerpt from the collection!⁣
⁣
SOMETHING BLUE by Nate Marshall will be available 3.9.2027 by @illuminatemics

901

74

7 days ago

Many many years of friendship in this photo. 1st grade. 4th grade. Smart kid summer camps. High school poetry slams and ciphers. Too many recording studios of every vintage from full professional to the hustle bag with the equipment borrowed from school and set up wherever was quiet enough. Record releases, book releases, rap shows, fist fights. Graduations. Cutting classes. First loves, breakups, weddings, divorces, babies being born, burying loved ones. Dirtbag 20s in apartments of various levels of legality. Housewarmings. House sellings. A lot of furniture moved. Got the job. Laid off. Quit that bullshit gig and threw a party. Money up. Money down. Money funny as full hour special. Worst days. Best days. Birthdays. Just a selection of crew I’ve collected all the way, not everybody.
I was born with no brothers. I have too many brothers to count. taken in Allstate Arena by @illuminatemics

323

12

12 days ago

by @illuminatemics

1k

144

a month ago

Day 6 of @thesealeychallenge • Our featured poet is Nate Marshall (@illuminatemics), whose work appeared in Split Lip Magazine (@splitlipthemag), Issue February 2020. For the whole month of August, we'd like to put a spotlight on individual poets as well as some of our favourite lit mags. Shared here with deep gratitude.
.
.
.

“i admit sometimes my homies talk about their families immigrating & i get jealous.”

— Nate Marshall (@illuminatemics)
.
.
.

Landless Acknowledgement
by Nate Marshall

before we get started we would like to acknowledge that we live on some unceded bones. sometimes me & mine imagine ancestral homes. all i got so far is Montgomery, Alabama. what is a homeland for me? maybe a boat? certainly not a country. maybe a plot of land somewhere so far from the south sides i’ve claimed that i would get lost on the way. i admit sometimes my homies talk about their families immigrating & i get jealous. we lost the land we were custodians over before i was a twinkle in the eye of a twinkle in the eye of a twinkle in the eye. closest i got to a homeland is my mama’s caucasian pitch in the phone calling the police. closest i got to a homeland is not never calling the police. closest i got to a homeland is my daddy’s laugh in a spades game. closest i got to a homeland is my lover’s tongue talking or otherwise. not to be dark but i am. not to be dark but the planet is on fire. not to be dark but they moving capitals because the water is coming up. not to be dark but our bones are in that water too. maybe that’s my capital? once the polar capitals melt & there’s a whole lot less land for folks to buy & sell & steal maybe everybody will feel a little more dark. will feel a little more homelandless like we do. why you think i call my compatriots homies? maybe ain’t no home except for how your beloveds cuss or pray or pronounce.
.
.
.

This poem appeared in Split Lip Magazine (@splitlipthemag), February 2020. Shared here with deep gratitude.
.
.
.

#readalittlepoetry #NateMarshall #SplitLipMagazine #readalittlepoem #poetry #sealeychallenge #sealeychallenge2026 by @illuminatemics

1k

24

2 months ago

It’s July 1st so that means my promotion to Associate Professor with Tenure is official. Been teaching college since 2015 and I took the scenic route to tenure. Been in and out of academia a few times in that time and at a handful of spots. It’s been a wild ride. Here’s a hilarious Cameo my homies @_joseolivarez and @erika_m_stallings got me on the occasion. Shoutout Trick Williams. Shoutout my family and all the homies. Shoutout poetry. Shoutout Chicago. taken in University of Wisconsin-Madison by @illuminatemics

296

59

3 months ago

Today on Writing Forward, poet Nate Marshall joins to discuss how masculinity became a central question of his work, what it means to build a sense of home in a new place, and why paying close attention has always been at the heart of his writing.

Along the way, Nate reads a new poem and we talk about Outkast, Alzheimer’s as a “poetic-ass disease,” and the stories we inherit and the ones we choose to rewrite.

Listen now at the link in bio. by @illuminatemics

76

0

3 months ago

Shoutout to @earthtocarlina and all the good folks at UNC Chapel Hill for having me out last semester and for making these beautiful broadsides. I’ll dedicate this poem to that one Supreme with the accurate last name. by @illuminatemics

456

15

3 months ago

my friend @mercedes_zapata took this picture a little over a year ago when we went to her for family photos. I need to do a better job at keeping my digital presence updated and orderly. I probably won't do a better job but I'm trying so here's this new old photo. Book coming next year. Other stuff also coming. taken in Chicago, Illinois by @illuminatemics

317

9

3 months ago

The doctors are in! That’s right, we’ve brought back Poetry Therapy this year for this month’s bonus episode!
•
•
If you’ve ever felt like you didn’t “get it” when it comes to poetry, we’ve got five incredible poets who can help: @_joseolivarez @bardsbesidebars @camonghne @illuminatemics & @yesikastarr. They each picked a poem they love — we read it, break down how and why it works, and lean into what is exciting about the poem.
•
•
What poem would you want to discuss for a poetry therapy session?
•
•
Whether you love poetry, don’t understand it, or are somewhere in between, this episode is for you. It is live now exclusively on Patreon and Substack. A little 15 minute preview is in the main feed.
•
•
#thestacksunabridged #thestackspodcast #poetrytherapy by @illuminatemics

648

22

6 months ago

Nate Marshall’s newest poetry collection comes out early next year, and I had a wonderful conversation with him about it. Nate has been a mentor to me for close to two years now, and has truly changed my life, the way I think, the things I aspire to. Much gratitude to him—for making time always, for being someone to look up to, for this discussion and all the others.

Listen to him read some new poems and say brilliant things at the link in my bio.

“it’s often those who pose nostalgic who are cowards in true night” by @illuminatemics

232

5

6 months ago

Our third installment in the Chicago Renaissance series is an essay about the poetry of Nate Marshall (@illuminatemics) by @jamilawoods. For our 10th anniversary, we’ve started the New Chicago Renaissance series to revisit exemplary works of literature about Chicago from the last 10 years, and explore their continued relevance. Stay tuned for one every month! by @illuminatemics

235

7

8 months ago