Documentary Films.
IN NEED OF SEAWATER
Directed by Richard Yeagley, In Need of Seawater begins a trilogy of documentary short films produced and written by Mark Anthony Thomas. Positioned as “the past,” the film reflects on the twenty years since The Poetic Repercussion, tracing how those poems shaped his voice and followed him through journalism, public service, and creative work. It looks back at the origins of a writer finding clarity in language, and how those early pieces continue to resonate today.
FOLDED WHISPERS
Live at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater
November 2022
Filmed during COVID at the historic Kelly Strayhorn Theater in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood, Folded Whispers brings together seventeen poems written and performed by Mark Anthony Thomas. Presented before a carefully managed audience, the film captures a moment when shared creative experiences felt both fragile and essential. Through themes of city life, identity, love, loss, and mortality, the project reflects the emotional terrain of a world navigating disruption while still seeking connection.
News Media.
CITY LIMITS (2009 - 2013)
City Limits produces deeply reported investigative and narrative journalism across its digital platforms and distribution partners, continuing its legacy as one of New York City’s most respected civic news outlets. Founded in 1976 and re-launched in 2009 as an independent, mission-driven startup newsroom, City Limits built a reputation for storytelling that examines how policy, housing, and urban systems shape life in New York City.
During Mark Anthony Thomas’s tenure as publisher, City Limits earned 20 journalism awards, including back-to-back Sigma Delta Chi Awards from the Society of Professional Journalists—recognizing some of the strongest local investigative reporting in the country. The newsroom’s impact was further affirmed when Mayor Michael Bloomberg proclaimed an official “City Limits Day” in October 2011, calling the publication “a model for NYC and the rest of the nation.”
Books.
The Poetic Repercussion
ISBN: 0970364911
Format: Paperback, 144 pages
Release Date: December 2004
Retail Price: $9.95 US | $13.95 (Canada)
Published By: Rings of Jupiter
The Poetic Repercussion:
A Poetic & Musical Narrative (2004)
The Poetic Repercussion expands Mark Anthony Thomas’s early work into a sweeping, layered exploration of culture, emotion, and experience. Structured as 101 “tracks” and 20 “interludes,” the collection fuses poetry, prose, spoken word cadence, and musicality to journey through love, identity, politics, philosophy, spirituality, hip hop, and the fractured beauty of American life. Set metaphorically in a “psychiatrist’s chair,” the book creates a space where confession, imagination, and cultural commentary coexist.
The collection established Thomas as a distinctive voice capable of crossing genres and traditions with intensity and range.
Book Tour: December 2004 – June 2007
Honors: Getty Images Mishmash Global Winner (In This Shop, 2012); Georgia Author of the Year Finalist (2005); LA Black Book Festival Poetry Book of the Year (2005); Poetry Foundation National Bestseller (2006)
Recommended By: BET, Rolling Out Weekly, APOOO Book Club, Cleveland Crusader, PoetryTelevision.com, New Pages Alternative, Mahogany Book Club, Infinite Greek Magazine, Colorado Urban Spectrum, New Voice of New York, VIP Atlanta Book Club, Black Collegian Magazine
AS I LOOK
ISBN: 0970364903
Format: Paperback, 68 pages
Publisher: Amazing Experiences Press
Retail Price: $8.49 (US)
As I Look. (2000)
As I Look is an intimate collection of nearly eighty poems that captures a young writer wrestling with self-discovery and the world around him. Through pieces that span motivation, spirituality, identity, resilience, and the realities of hurt and renewal, the book offers a portrait of becoming—of language used to make sense of experience and possibility. Its range of styles and emotional honesty helped the collection connect with readers across diverse communities.
Recommended by: Black Book Issues & Review, Infinite Greek Magazine, Atlanta Daily World, Dekalb Champion Newspaper