Puma Perl

In the mid-70s, Puma Perl happened by the Nuyorican Poets Café on its second night of existence. Along with countless other Lower East Side residents, she discovered that the transformative power of poetry and performance was accessible to her, regardless of class and academic achievement. Decades later--still living in New York City--she is a widely known poet, writer, performer, producer, journalist, and photographer.

Puma is the author of two chapbooks, the award-winning "Belinda and Her Friends" and "Ruby True", both published by erbacce-press. She is also the author three full-length collections, "knuckle tattoos," (erbacce-press, 2012) "Retrograde,"(great weather for MEDIA, 2014) and "Birthdays Before and After" (Beyond Baroque Books, 2019.) She is one of the four female poets who make up the recently published "Heaven We Haven't Dreamed Yet" (Stubborn Mule Press, 2019.)

Her poetry and short stories have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies including"The Careless Embrace of the Boneshaker" (great weather for MEDIA, 2016), "Maintenant: A Journal or Contemporary Dada Writing and Art" (Three Rooms Press), "Rattle", "The Chiron Review", "Have a NYC" (Three Rooms Press), "Sensitive Skin:Selective Writing 2016-18), "Bullying: Replies, Rebuttals, Confessions, and Catharsis," and The Gasconade Review. She also has many published essays, including "Running the Obstacle Course," which was was included in "What Doesn't Kill Her: Women's Stories of Resistance," edited by Kerry Garvin and Elisabeth Sharp McKetta.

Puma Perl is an award-winning journalist who received two honorable mentions and one first place award from the New York Press Association during her five years working as a freelance journalist for The Villager. She currently writes for the online journal, Chelsea Community News

(https://chelseacommunitynews.com/) She was also the 2016 recipient of the Acker Award in the category of writing.

She was the co-creator, co-producer, and main curator of DDAY Productions which mounted shows in many New York City venues and highlighted emerging artists and is the sole creator Puma Perl's Pandemonium, which brings together poetry with rock and roll. She has been mounting Pandemonium shows since 2012. In May, 2021, she was invited to be artist in residence at the HOWL Happening! Gallery, and produced and starred in four televised shows. As Puma Perl and Friends, she performs regularly with a group of excellent musicians. As a solo artist and with musicians, she has performed her original work across the USA, in London, and in Prague. She lives and works on the Lower East Side and continues to be transformed.

Cover photo and photo 2, on author's page by Len DeLessio

Photo 3, with Joff Wilson at Otto's, Gregg Blieski

Photo 4, Puma Perl and Friends, Bowery Electric, Alan Rand

Check out a new review of Puma Perl and Friends by Charley Crespo, Everynight Charley's Manhattan Beat:http://themanhattanbeat.blogspot.com/2013/12/puma-perl-at-ottos-shrunken-head.html