Cathryn Cofell

photo by Peter Mutschler

CONTACT

ccofell@new.rr.com

1424 S. Alicia Drive
Appleton, WI 54914

Cathryn Cofell
Appleton, Wisconsin

BIO

Weekdays, Cathryn Cofell is a highly successful and in-control businesswoman, wife and mother....well, maybe mildly successful and somewhat stressed-out, but making a decent go at it. Nights and weekends, she lets the poet out to play for readings, workshops and speaking engagements. Inbetween work and play, she is a passionate advocate for the arts, having served as an advisor to the Wisconsin Governor for the creation of a state Poet Laureate, as founding Chair of the Wisconsin Poet Laureate Commission, on the board of the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets and as a pro-arts voice wherever she'll be heard.

Her wildly-published poetry and essays can be found in Prairie Schooner, New York Quarterly, MARGIE, Nerve Cowboy, Slipstream, Main Street Rag, Free Verse, Women and many others. She is the recipient of two national Pushcart Prize nominations, two Pippistrelle Best of the Small Press Awards, and the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters Outstanding Poem Award for two consecutive years, and otherwise excels at being honorably mentioned (a/k/a close but no cigar-o).

PUBLICATIONS

JUST RELEASED: Kamikaze Commotion, Parallel Press, 2008 - $12.00
Sweet Curdle, Marsh River Editions, 2006 - $12.00
Roadkill, Neville Public Museum of Brown County, 2003 - OUT OF PRINT
Tiny Little Crushes, Lockout Press, 2002 - OUT OF PRINT
Between the Sheets (collected work of The Sheets Writers Group), Perma Press, 2002 - $6.00
Her Religion - Hodge Podge Press, 1998 - OUT OF PRINT

All prices include postage. Make checks payable to Cathryn Cofell.

BOOKINGS

2008

January
Participant in the 2008 Poetry Marathon January 29th between 11:00 AM-12:00 PM at the Woodland Pattern Book Center in Milwaukee

February
Teaching "Evil Twins: The Art and Craft of Collaborative Poetry" with Karla Huston on February 16th from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM at the All Writers Workshop and Workplace in Waukesha, cost is $75.00. To register, go to www.allwriters.org Also featured reader February 21st at 7:00 PM at the Pump House Regional Arts Center in La Crosse. Open mic follows.

March
Featured reader March 3rd at 7:00 PM at the Montello Public Library (followed by open mic) in Montello

April
Book Release Party for newest book titled Kamikaze Commotion and Poetry Jam with the GLBT Partnership April 1st at 6:00 PM at the Harmony Cafe in Appleton. Open mic is free and public welcome to take part.

May
Featured reader May 1st at 7:00 PM at the Coffee Cabin (followed by open mic) in Wautoma
November
Featured reader November 6th at 7:00 PM at Carroll College in Waukesha and with Karla Huston November 16th at 2:00 PM at Avol's Bookstore in Madison

POEM

LEAVES OF GRASS / SUICIDE / PSYCHIC HOTLINES

I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin,
Hoping to cease not till death. Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself”

The book I gave came back at me
like a boomerang
like a sling shot
like the kick of a shotgun
the kick of a bullet in a 10 x 12 room
a 10 x 12 room sixteen years ago
sixteen years ago and I turn 37
today I crack open at 37

after sixteen years I crack open
like a bad spine
like a Dionne connection
like algebra.

Dear Jim.
Dear Jim. . . I wrote . . . love Cathy. . .
and all the slanted words between
slanted across the inside cover of that book like a tidal wave
slanted across that open jacket like a con man’s open jacket full of cheap watches
slanted between that first moment
that first glance
that first dim moment in a dim bar
and that last day
that last late in the night minute
that last
folded
second.

Dear Jim I wrote
I only hope you treasure this half as much as I treasure you.
You’re not supposed to get those words back
you’re supposed to give them away but
        I treasure you I said and bang
the book I gave came up from the floor
Walt came up from the floor
came up from the blood
came up from the mud
tracked in on distracted shoes
came up from the outline of your body
propped against the foot of your bed
        the outline of your body still
        propped against the foot of a bed

as Walt came at me
like a hood in a deep alley
like a rabid dog
like a piece of glass on a dirt road
he came up from the dirt
without a map or footsteps on parchment

just your mother’s face at the door
her hand in my face Dear Jim
your mother’s hand in my face
Walt’s book in her hand
her curled hand holding his face
her curled hand
this kamikaze motion
came at me like Jesus from the dead
this kamikaze commotion
the pages of me
        I gave to you
        came back from the dead
she gave it back
as if she could give it back
as if she could take that bare moment back
she couldn’t bear
she couldn’t bear
she pushed you away        and it all went away
and the book in my hands brings it back
the face in my hands brings you back.

Sample poem from Kamikaze Commotion, (Parallel Press, 2008). Originally published in Rattle, 2001

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