Marc Scullin
Marc Scullin is a poet and novelist based in Pelham, New York. His writing spans long-form poetry, haiku, reflective prose, and fiction, ranging from compressed observation and sustained reflection to character-driven storytelling. His work explores mortality, stillness, and absurdity through direct observation and lived experience.Across subjects and forms, he creates a world where tension and tenderness coexist, giving each piece room to take shape naturally. He works independently, shaping each idea into writing that remains faithful to its original inspiration.
Shadows and Daffodils Book Giveaway on Goodreads
Goodreads Book Giveaway
Shadows and Daffodils
by Marc Scullin
Giveaway ends September 28, 2026.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.
Enter for a chance to win one of 10 signed paperback copies of Shadows and Daffodils. The giveaway runs through September 28.
Where to Find Marc
Use the buttons below to explore Marc’s published and upcoming works, find his books through major booksellers, watch recent performances, and follow his appearances and creative activity.
Appearances
Upcoming Appearances
The Second Friday Open Mic
Community Unitarian Universalist Congregation at White Plains
Live poetry reading
Friday, October 9, 2026 · 7:00–10:00 PM
468 Rosedale Avenue
White Plains, NY 10605Hudson Valley Writers Center Open Mic Night
Live poetry reading
Friday, October 16, 2026 · 7:30–10:00 PM
300 Riverside Drive
Sleepy Hollow, NY 10591
Past Appearances
Upcoming Works
Cover painting: Marc Scullin
I Bet They’re LovelyCompleted and scheduled for publication
Publication Date: November 09, 2026I Bet They’re Lovely gathers haiku shaped by close attention to nature, human behavior, and the small interruptions that alter an ordinary moment. Marc Scullin approaches the form with reverence but not obedience, allowing mortality, spiritual curiosity, sharp humor, and everyday absurdity to share the same small frame. The collection offers a concentrated expression of his poetic voice, adding another form to his authorial range while remaining alert to what is overlooked, willing to see beauty beside decay, and allowing the moment to turn strange without leaving the ordinary behind.
Cover painting: Marc Scullin
Why Can’t There Be Rainbows in the Dark?Manuscript complete
Target publication: March 2027Why Can’t There Be Rainbows in the Dark? expands the range of Marc Scullin’s earlier collections while pushing his voice into less predictable territory. The close observational eye remains, but the world around it has widened toward greater human connection, social friction, tenderness, and a deeper sense of persistence. Sympathy for what is discarded and overlooked remains central, while images, gestures, and found moments increasingly carry the weight of the poems themselves. Across the volume, that expanding range remains unmistakably his, shaped by a coherent voice, close attention, irreverence, and willingness to explore what his observations expose about the world.
Cover collage: Marc Scullin
Sad Girls: Graffiti Truck — Book 1Novel in progress
Target publication: Spring 2027Sad Girls, Marc Scullin’s debut novel, follows Swerve, a man displaced in time and stranded in a city he does not understand. When a young woman goes missing, he is hired to find her. His search pulls him through graffiti-marked streets, controlled neighborhoods, and fragments of music and culture that are ordinary to him but have been restricted or forgotten. As he moves among the city’s factions, each encounter exposes another piece of the system—and another trace of the world Swerve remembers. The deeper he searches, the harder it becomes to separate the missing girl from the buried culture surrounding her. Sad Girls marks another expansion of Scullin’s creative range, carrying his interest in memory, identity, culture, and what survives into a longer narrative form.
Published Works
Cover Photograph: Marc Scullin
Shadows and Daffodils: Collected Poetry — Volume 2Published poetry collection
Published July 27, 2026Shadows and Daffodils finds meaning in what is overlooked, discarded, or left behind. Moving through ordinary places where beauty and rot sit side by side, the collection brings mortality, stillness, grief, and absurdity into the same field of observation. Marc Scullin’s cohesive, image-driven voice shifts between tension and tenderness, direct experience and philosophical reflection, allowing humor to remain present even at the edges of loss. Together, the poems form a record of close attention and an ongoing search for what remains after the moment has passed.
Collected Poetry — Volume 1Published poetry collection
Published April 9, 2026Collected Poetry — Volume 1 introduces Marc Scullin’s direct, image-driven voice through poems rooted in ordinary experience. Across the collection, humor and anger sit beside tenderness, mortality, and spiritual reflection, while attention remains fixed on what is most easily passed by. What emerges is an early record of a poet finding meaning in the everyday—and discovering how much the world reveals when it is observed without looking away.
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Blog Archive
September 20264 entries
VanishedSeptember 28, 2026
Sometimes we choose to let something go because we believe some part of it will remain. But letting go can carry consequences we never intended. This week’s poem, Vanished, explores that tension.
Have you ever chosen to let something go, only to realize later that you had lost more of it than you intended?
Through Cracked WindowsSeptember 21, 2026
Being an independent author means putting your work into the world. It also means sometimes wondering whether the world is looking back.
Open mics and other live readings have become one way for me to answer that question. Putting myself in those rooms lets me know that real eyes and ears are on the work.
This week, I’m sharing “Through Cracked Windows,” a poem about being seen.
What makes you feel seen—or reminds you that someone is really paying attention?
A Summer DaySeptember 14, 2026
I recently returned from a three-day music festival, and at several moments over the weekend I found myself reflecting on the relationship between music and poetry. Both can create rhythm, movement, and feelings attached to specific memories. This week’s poem is titled A Summer Day.
wearing a bathing suit
and big headphones
strolls carelessly,
aimlessly
across the busy street
He’s cradling a large boom box
speakers pointed toward the sky
following the beat of some drum
that only he can hear
The women on the corner
whisper
wondering what he’s up to
Is there a song that immediately brings you back to a particular moment or evokes a specific feeling?
A Reading at The Artist CaféSeptember 7, 2026
Being an independent author is about more than writing and editing. It also means being your own publicist and booking agent.
Here’s a short 3-poem clip from a recent reading at The Artist Café on City Island, where I read from Shadows and Daffodils.
The three poems, in order:
“Distance” — a dark, surreal meditation on mortality at the edge of ordinary life.
“Table for One” — a late-night reflection on solitude, loneliness, and searching for meaning.
“Reflections” — a quiet piece about identity and the strange ways we can lose sight of ourselves.
August 20265 entries
The Tale of the Knotted RopeAugust 31, 2026
The poem begins with a discarded book and follows it as it is read and carried to a nearby book box, and ends with the book being left there for someone else to find.
I like the idea of books continuing to move from one person to another, finding new readers and carrying their stories with them.
face down
on the sidewalk
a worn
$4.99 sticker
caught my eye
I picked it up
The Tale of the Knotted Rope
Out of place on the street
I changed direction
and turned toward a nearby book box
As I walked
I read
of a boy
born among
the dark mountains
who tamed
the blue horse
An elder
taught him
the creation story
One knot
for each telling
When the rope
was complete
the story
would belong
to the boy
By the time
I reached the box
I knew that it was home
Someone else
would find it
and carry it onward
One final knot—
I placed the book
inside
mine to tell
Brass KnucklesAugust 23, 2026
This week’s poem comes from a group of older pieces I’ve recently been revisiting and reworking. Sound can play a powerful role in shaping both how we experience a moment and how we remember it.
All lower brass
Mean, Growling
Down your street
John Philip Sousa’s
Reign of Terror
Has a sound ever changed the mood of a place, a person, or an experience for you?
CompassAugust 17, 2026
This week’s poem came out of a recent period of international travel. I found the change of scenery unusually productive creatively. Different surroundings, unfamiliar routines, and small details I might not encounter at home kept finding their way into my writing.
he crosses the square
toward the market
through car traffic
pedestrian crowds
locals pass
coming the other way
small clear bags
knotted at the top
ginger root
and lemons
he continues
moving
in their direction
Has a change of scenery ever given you a new perspective in some aspect of your life?
PaceAugust 10, 2026
This week’s poem began with two joggers, squeaky soles, and some rhythmic inspiration.
on the same road
one slightly ahead
neither gaining
nor losing pace
one squeaky sole
from each pair
keeping
perfect time
Have you ever noticed two separate movements suddenly fall into the same rhythm?
And Then It’s GoneAugust 3, 2026
Today, I am sharing another poem from the book, titled And Then It’s Gone.
this morning
I learned your name
Now
you’re a severed stump
no goodbye
no more hellos
We had just met
Have you ever recognized the significance of something only after the opportunity to know it more fully had already passed?
July 20264 entries
Shadows and Daffodils — ReleaseJuly 27, 2026
Rather than sharing an individual poem today, I am pleased to announce the release of Shadows and Daffodils: Collected Poetry — Volume 2.
My second collection finds meaning in the overlooked and the discarded. It moves through ordinary places where beauty and rot sit side by side, where grief has a sense of humor, and where existence waits to be noticed.
A Field of Blinking StarsJuly 20, 2026
My second collection continues my exploration of mortality, stillness, absurdity, and the overlooked moments that remain after experience has passed. These poems move through ordinary places where beauty and rot sit side by side, grief has a sense of humor, and existence waits to be noticed.
To mark the upcoming release, I am sharing a poem from the collection below.
The bay retreats.
Muck
belching rot
from a gaping mouth.
Clams lodged throughout —
a field of blinking stars.
I sit on the concrete lip,
watching what we leave behind.
A soccer ball,
half deflated in the silt.
A hubcap, muddy.
A hard hat, slick with algae.
Three planets, orbiting.
Beer cans collapsed inward.
Liquor bottles on their sides.
Satellites.
The water has receded enough
to reveal the whole rotten design.
I sit motionless,
awaiting wind and tide
to return
Erasure of what we have made.
Erasure of what we are.
Gone for now.
A fleeting mercy.
tomorrow
the bay will open again
and lay this sky at my feet.
Split the DifferenceJuly 13, 2026
This week’s poem, “Split the Difference,” is about tension in the natural world, and the small, sometimes accidental ways distant forces can become immediate.
The sun retreats
behind the clouds.
A strong breeze
comes off the water.
A gull passes overhead,
calling to the distant lightning.
With a wet crunch,
the clam shell I missed
shatters beneath my foot.
Have you ever been in a space where something small unexpectedly poked through the moment and changed how you experienced it?
The Samba LoungeJuly 6, 2026
This week's poem is entitled The Samba Lounge, and it explores themes of aspiration, economic disparity, and the tension between hope and the reality of day-to-day life.
Nationally, politicians blow hot air
Somewhere, they intersect
A poster in a shitty neighborhood
announces the return of BILLIONAIRE FRIDAYS
at the Samba Lounge
Right next to it
A group is huddled
sweating,
waiting for the bottle return machines to open
Without fail
Every morning
They stand
Collecting tomorrows
Their chance for Billionaire Fridays
at the Samba Lounge
Have you ever encountered a moment in everyday life that made you reflect differently on the gap between your aspirations and your reality?
June 20264 entries
Across the CurrentJune 29, 2026
This week's poem is titled Across the Current, and it begins with a simple observation from nature that invites reflection.
the falling tide
pulls away
while westward winds
blow ripples
back toward the bay
For a moment
the shore caught
in both directions
Did this poem remain a moment in nature for you, or did it remind you of experiences from your own life?
Side QuestJune 22, 2026
This week's poem is titled Side Quest, and it explores themes of discovery participation, and the sometimes-strange traditions in which we choose to engage.
a sandstone boulder
tilted diagonally
a dragon's snarled visage
cracked wide
stone teeth
set along the jaw
a rounded stone eye
fixed in a socket above
With reverence
I chose a stone
and placed it
along the jawline
Further up the path—
a curling snake
an open jaw
with forked tongue
Many others had been here
before me
This was not ancient.
Still
I chose a stone
and set it with care
my open palm
touched the cold stone
A turn away
awaiting the next explorer
Have you ever encountered a place, object, tradition, or ritual that felt meaningful even though you did not know its origin?
On approachJune 15, 2026
A septuagenarian
in a short-sleeved polo
and khaki shorts
with a seven-inch rise
Basks
full stretch
On a bench
He must have been
a strapping buck
once
From an aerosol can
he sprays one leg
then the other
Starting at the knees
and working upward
until both gleam
with an oily slick
Is it mosquitos
or memories?
One day
I may understand
Hotter Each DayJune 8, 2026
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