Bronx poet Roya Marsh celebrates launch of second book, “savings time”

credit to Tamara Van Lesberghe
Poet Roya Marsh, a Parkchester native, is launching her second collection, “savings time” at a Feb. 7 event in Washington Heights.
Photo courtesy Tamara Van Lesberghe

Bronx poet Roya Marsh is celebrating the Feb. 4 release of her second collection, “savings time,” described as a “love letter, a call to action and a stark, indelible statement of Black survival.” 

Marsh, a Parkchester native, told the Bronx Times she got started mainly in performance poetry despite there being no on-campus poetry slams during her college years. She began spending a lot of time at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Bowery Poetry Club, Brooklyn Poetry Slam and other open mic venues, which she said “definitely shifted my understanding of literature, as well as my understanding of community.”

Although Marsh always kept notebooks and journals with the work she performed, becoming a published author once seemed beyond her imagination. But books can go anywhere in the world at anytime and can “take these poems into spaces my body would never be able to reach,” said Marsh. 

The New York City performance venues opened up worlds for her and others, as any writer off the street could easily rub elbows with the most renowned living poets. With everyone sharing the same mic and stage, “A lot of walls are down,” said Marsh. “You could be in a room and Nikki Giovanni is 12 seats away from you.”

The book’s cover, designed by June Park and featuring art by Nina Chanel Abney

Marsh’s work has already received significant acclaim. Her first collection, “dayliGht,” was nominated for the 2021 Lambda Literary Award for Poetry, and her work has been featured by BET, NBC, Def Poetry Jam, Carnegie Hall and more. 

“Savings time,” officially releasing Feb. 4, received early praise from New York Times bestselling author Frederick Joseph, who said, “Marsh’s poetry is a fierce, unapologetic and bluesy anthem for anyone who’s ever been told they’re too much or not enough.” 

Whereas “dayliGht” was more personal about Marsh’s journey as a Black butch woman, the new book focuses on themes of liberation and self-liberation, she said.  

A pervasive sense of urgency runs through “savings time” starting from the author’s note: “They never wanted us to read. That should tell you all you need to know about why I continue to write. … They are banning books and bodies; it is only a matter of time before they come for our last breath. What are you waiting for?” 

Marsh said her work is meant to provoke readers and get their wheels turning. The entire role of poetry and art in today’s world is to disrupt the status quo, she said. “I’m questioning the things that folks blindly believe.”

The suppression of marginalized voices is a related theme throughout her work, and Marsh has experienced it in many forms.

Once, a local high school ordered 300 copies of “dayliGht” for what was supposed to be a schoolwide, full-day poetry workshop with students. In the end, Marsh only met with freshman classes, and while the librarian was able to confirm select poems discussion with students, “The collection as a whole was not welcomed,” Marsh said. 

Other events have been squashed from the start because of complaints, she said. Even so, Marsh said she understands the power structures at play and people’s fear of the power of literature. Some books have the power to awaken young minds, and adults have natural fear of that possibility, she said. Her very identity as a Black butch woman has an inherent political element to it. 

“Being myself is considered an act of defiance, and that’s so weird,” Marsh said. “I want to draw a parallel between the banning of books and the banning of our bodies, the banning of our joy.” 

Bringing poetry uptown

Marsh worries that libraries and books, no matter the content, are no longer important in many people’s lives. She said she is saddened by the loss of community that results when people stop sharing stories and recipes, stop listening to elders’ wisdom, stop sharing space with each other.

“We run to TikTok for research and not a library,” said Marsh. “Why aren’t the homies forming book clubs?” 

To that end, Marsh said her book launch on Feb. 7 at Recirculation/Word Up Community Bookshop in Washington Heights will bring together people from all walks of life. Pandemic quarantines ruined the launch party for her first book, so Marsh was intent on pulling out all the stops this time — and insisted on holding the party uptown. 

“I’m sick and tired of having to go to the depths of Brooklyn or the belly of lower Manhattan just to hear some good words,” she said. 

Marsh, who co-founded the Bronx poet laureate position, is working to set up Bronx events to celebrate “savings time.” 

“I want people to know we’re reading, we’re writing and we’re doing all that magic uptown,” she said. 


Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes