SURVIVING PETER PAN
A NEVERLAND JOURNEY TO HEALING AFTER NARCISSIST ABUSE
Surviving Peter Pan is a poetry collection with a deep red ink stain of "reclamation" branded upon the classic Peter Pan tale by J.M Barrie. Told from the perspective of the inhabitants (particularly women) of Neverland overcoming the trials of loving a narcissist (Peter Pan). By examining the bittersweetness of motherhood, womanhood, childhood, and the relationships between families, fantasies, and healing, Surviving Peter Pan holds your inner child in open palms while lighitng it on fire. It shines on your pain while sprinkling a little fairy dust on your soul. The collection is so unexpected, you'll never look at growing up the same again.
This poetic project was completed through Community Literature Initiative as a TA in the Fall 2023 and won the Winter 2023 Chapbook contest with Beyond The Veil Press.
First edition signed copies are still available for a limited time by emailing marissajforbes@gmail.com, second edition is now available on Amazon.
BRIEF & BLEEDING MARGINS
POEMS & LYRIC ESSAYS ON THE BRIEF & BLEEDING HISTORY OF NOW
Brief & Bleeding Margins is the rawest glimpse into my personal journey. “Brief” in the sense that readers take in smatterings of me through short autobiographical prose that acts as titles, taking the current trend of long titles and turning it up to 12. These expository titles bear witness to the sentiments that unfold within the collection: politics (BLOODY POLITICS), my emergence between girlhood-womanhood (EMERGING, BRIEFLY), my complicated but honest take on the pain and beauty of motherhood (MOTHER’S BLOOD), and finally the experience healing through the creative process (BRIEF META-POESY). “Bloody” in the sense that I allowed myself to be literal—as a woman: I bleed, and my existence holds that truth to be self-evident. It speaks to the truth that we all bleed, scab, heal, then bleed again…and again. Brief & Bleeding Margins is for the hurt and healing of the world, because we are, after all, just the marks in the margins—the scratches as swirls we make when trying to make our pen work again.
Brief & Bleeding Margins is available World Stage Press.
BRIEF & BLEEDING MARGINS
POEMS & LYRIC ESSAYS ON THE BRIEF & BLEEDING HISTORY OF NOW
Brief & Bleeding Margins is the rawest glimpse into my personal journey. “Brief” in the sense that readers take in smatterings of me through short autobiographical prose that acts as titles, taking the current trend of long titles and turning it up to 12. These expository titles bear witness to the sentiments that unfold within the collection: politics (BLOODY POLITICS), my emergence between girlhood-womanhood (EMERGING, BRIEFLY), my complicated but honest take on the pain and beauty of motherhood (MOTHER’S BLOOD), and finally the experience healing through the creative process (BRIEF META-POESY). “Bloody” in the sense that I allowed myself to be literal—as a woman: I bleed, and my existence holds that truth to be self-evident. It speaks to the truth that we all bleed, scab, heal, then bleed again…and again. Brief & Bleeding Margins is for the hurt and healing of the world, because we are, after all, just the marks in the margins—the scratches as swirls we make when trying to make our pen work again.
Brief & Bleeding Margins is available World Stage Press.
PROGRESS (not perfection)
An ART & POETRY anthology
A CAPSTONE PROJECT AS 40 WEST ART DISTRICTS' 2025 POET LAUREATE
The concept of PROGRESS (not perfection) sparked from 40 West Arts District being in the midst of its own moment of progress as construction moves through the corridor. Despite how positive these changes are for the district in the end, we sometimes get distracted by the pain of the change. I wanted to present another outlet for creatives to showcase the idea that through anything a creative community will remain strong, connected, and enriched.
PROGRESS (not perfection) is also about creating in a world that isn’t stable, it’s about connecting through community and uplifting each other without the notion of perfection. This collection is about giving space for love and mistakes, for appreciating and understanding to truly make progress toward the world we hope to live in again.
PROGRESS (not perfection) is a collection of art and poetry that depicts not only the 40 West Arts District but creatives as a whole. It points to what makes us human. What PROGRESS (not perfection) represents is best said by Andrea Gibson, “On Earth, I was a work in progress/ was comforted in the knowing/ that I had made a million mistakes/ still in me to learn from.”
My Ghost Still Carries a Rooster in “Bridging The Gap Poems & Ethos for Emily Warren Roebling by Marissa Forbes Sound by Kamauu
ADDITIONAL PUBLICATIONS
MANAGING EDITOR
Twenty Bellows seeks to showcase the work of the next generation of artisans - those who work in word and verse with the same intensity of a blacksmith and their hammer. Emphasizing the work of emerging and unpublished writers and poets, 20B seeks to amplify their voices in print and on stage.
We are fiercely inclusive, independently managed, and dedicated to the creation of something incredible. We produce an annual anthology "We Are The West," an annual themed anthology, and "Horizons" a fiction only anthology.
As Managing Editor, I create community through organizing events that showcase seasoned and emerging writers from Colorado and Wyoming. My work is rooted in amplifying marginalized voices through opportunities to share their stories and connect with each other.
BIOGRAPAPHY
Marissa Forbes is a writer, development coordinator, and mother. She graduated from Pratt Institute in 2008 and between 2008-2011, wrote & directed three one-act philosophical comedies for Off-Broadway, published several poems & short stories in online and print literary journals, and co-founded Brooklyn REPUBLIC--an art and charity collective that still thrives. Then she became a mother.
After nearly a decade focusing solely on motherhood, teaching art & preschool, and working in various organizations in the nonprofit sector, she began writing again in 2020.
Marissa has since published over 20 pieces
internationally, awarded an Author Fellowship from Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing, was the 2024 writer in resident for both Center for Colorado Women's History and Tiny Spoon, and is the 2025-2026 Poet Laureate for 40 West Arts District in Lakewood Colorado. She is the Managing Editor for Twenty Bellows Literary Magazine and a Teacher for the Community Literature Intiative.
Her chapbook Surviving Peter Pan through Beyond The Veil Press and Brief & Bleeding Margins through World Stage Press where published in 2023. Marissa lives in Denver Colorado with her two kids, cat, and dog. She continues to curate her life as she sees fit.
