Wade Martin Scholarship Fund
Wade Martin began writing poetry as a teenager and largely refused to stop. He read and studied the history of the genre voraciously, always hungry to know more. Wade was a prominent and valuable member of the Austin poetry community, as he regularly attended open mics, poetry readings, and critique groups. When he wasn’t performing at these events, he was eager to offer support and warmth to fellow poets. In these and all environments, Wade desired to serve, offering his help and time in any way that he could. From 2014-2015, Wade co-hosted the reading series Mind Maze for Raw Paw at Malvern Books; and served as editor for the Texas Poetry Calendar from 2015-2017. Wade completed his thesis, The Bird That Gave Birth to My Mother, and graduated with his MFA from Texas State University in 2019. Throughout graduate school and after, Wade taught English courses at Texas State. His devotion to his students was unparalleled, often forsaking his own time and needs to meet those of his students. He had a particularly large heart for teaching creative writing, and taught workshops and courses for the Austin Poetry Society, San Marcos Public Library, Freehand Arts Project, Upward Bound, and Badgerdog.
He believed above all that access to arts and writing education was valuable to the human experience, and therefore should be made accessible to all. In the spirit of these values, Badgerdog has established a memorial scholarship to help writers who otherwise would not have access to writing education.
The Bird That Gave Birth to My Mother
beginning with a line from Norman Dubie’s Elegy Asking That It Be the Last
There’s a bird the color of mustard. The bird
that gave birth to my mother. The color
of dust on a lantern. The bright yellow egg
that she hatched from. The beak of the bird
that is golden. The sunbeam that broke
her shell open. The feathers that fell
from the bird’s wings. The smell of her
fumbling and misery. The eye-ring
through which sight is broken. Her howling
at having been woken. In Spring,
the bird’s brimful of luster. By Summer,
my mom’s the town drunkard. In Autumn,
a yellow-leaved nest. By Winter, cirrhosis
again. The bird migrates south
with the weather. My mother
has gone south forever.
Wade Martin
DONATE TO THE WADE MARTIN SCHOLARSHIP FUND
If you would like to make a donation to the Wade Martin Scholarship Fund, you may either mail a check made out to The Library Foundation at PO BOX 13201, Austin, Texas, 78711 or make a donation online at the link below and dedicate the donation to the Wade Martin Scholarship Fund.