Mario ‘The Poet’ Willis: ‘Don’t Panic, Be Awesome’
Mario the Poet in 2022
Meet Mario. Mario “The Poet” Willis is Milwaukee’s poet laureate for 2022-2024.
He performed four poems outside at Snail’s Crossing Park along the Beerline Trail on 7 July 2022 along with poet Kavon “KJ” Cortez-Jones and musician Jahmes Finlayson, in an event supported by WaterMarks and Riverworks.
Watch video of the performances below.
Mario launched without preamble into the high-intensity “There Is Only So Much Time Left,” with its wrenching message of self-empowerment; then read the tragically ironic ode “to the girl 'nodding out' in front of Poets Monday” from his 2022 poetry collection, A Limited Engagement; segued into a slam of “Release the Safety,” a harrowing explosion of words; and concluded with a 9-point list poem simply introduced as “A Poem” outlining the few things the poet professes to know for certain.
“Smoke & Instagram filters
Can’t hold back the water forever
Water like time accumulates
And fits the forms you put it in”