Born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Marylisa DeDomenicis now resides not far from Atlantic City in Southern New Jersey where she and her husband own and operate the Main Street Cafe & Deli in Mays Landing, as well as host monthly open mic nights.
Marylisa's most recently accepted poem was published in the book To Have and to Hold: Prayers, Poems, and Blessings for Newlyweds, which was released in April 2007 by Center Street/Time Warner Books, and has a first printing run of 30,000. She has also had poems published in two other books (Andrews McMeel Press, Loyola Press), a calendar (Sourcebooks, Inc.), a broadside (Alpha Beat Press), print and online publications, and her chapbook, Almost All Red, was nominated by her former professor, Stephen Dunn, for a Pushcart prize. Her work can also be found on her website, www.notherpoet.com.
In September 2006 her poem "Drawing An Equation," a Ginsberg finalist published in The Paterson Literary Review, was performed as interpreted by actors and actresses at the Ritz Theatre, located just outside of Philadelphia (sponsored by New Jersey State Council on the Arts).
In 1983, Marylisa DeDomenicis wrote and managed distribution of advertising and promotional materials for the Liverpool Basketball Association in Liverpool, England. After returning to her hometown in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania she directed staged poetry readings for the city's Fine Arts Fiesta as Secretary of the Wilkes-Barre Poetry Society. In 1986 she moved to Southern New Jersey where she studied poetry writing at Stockton State College and pursued her humanities degree. After undergoing brain surgery in 1992, the poet focused on her writing and assisted in the production and distribution of The Coastal Forest Review, published by the writers group, AfterImage, for which she also edited poetry.
In addition to producing a series of summer readings and art exhibits at a county park and curating a staged poetry reading accompanied by a one act play, Marylisa has sponsored, hosted and presented poetry writing workshops to children and to adults in libraries, schools, a nature refuge and a senior citizens activities center. She has also produced and hosted, along with the editor of Jerseyworks.com, a series of readings which took place approximately ten miles from Atlantic City at Deli on the Square in Pleasantville, New Jersey. She now hosts open mic nights each month at her restaurant in Mays Landing.
Her readings include The Visiting Writers Series at Stockton State College in Pomona, The Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College in Paterson (funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and presented by the Distinguished Poets Series), The Camden County Cultural and Heritage Commission's Hopkins House, The Wetlands Institute in Stone Harbor, The Noyes Museum in Oceanville, Borders Books in Hamilton Township, and Atlantic City's Atlantic Cape Community College campus. She has performed her poetry in both open and closed venues, including the Gazebo at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival, various coffee shops, schools, libraries, museums, parks, delicatessens, theaters, book stores, and poetry and art centers.
She has worked for the casino and the food industries, both front and back of house, as well as for a slot machine company. She has also worked in the health care system as a certified home health care aid attending to people with various illnesses and physical and cognitive disabilities, including bed-bound oxygen-machine-dependent patients and those diagnosed with Alzheimers disease. She has taught in both the secular and non-secular school systems. She doesn't take much for granted and loves people.
