All of It by Kat Crawford

In All of It, Kat Crawford shows us “the sheen, glisten, prickle and shiver” of the things of this world and “lets loose with [her] resonant voice.” The result is a collection of deliciously imagistic poems that cares about “all of it.” From the playful “cat glasses with copper sparkles” to the deadly “lies…contagious as leprosy,” and as much as can be fit between these two extremes—including “red lipstick on shapely lips,” and “a dog that knows the sound of toast”—Crawford’s unforgettable images permeate this passionately crafted chapbook.

–Terry Lucas, poet, poetry coach and Poet Laureate of Marin County, California from 2019-2021. His collections include Dharma Rain, In This Room, If They Have Ears to Hear and his latest book, The Thing Itself.

Kat Crawford’s All of It celebrates our “odd & rangy americanism” with poems that are packed with all kinds of stuff—“ mesquite trees, saffron flowers, headlights, mongoose, / feral cats, painters, healers, stealers, teachers, and drunks. All of it.”  These are lush and generous poems that invite us to see the common things of the world for the miracles that they are.  Her generous eye takes it all in, even the splayed guts of human violence. Yet Crawford remains forward-looking, like Whitman, confident that we can build something good with “one blade of dry grass after another.” In the darkest of poems, she affirms that “goddesses and demons walk down the street, lighting lamps.”

–Joan Baranow, author of In the Next Life and Living Apart.

In this “great flood of the world and its contents,” emerging poet of the highest water Kat Crawford offers image after astounding image, each clear as a precision-cut gem. At once vulnerable and courageous, earthy and transcendent, this collection is a weaving of uncanny odes and deep remembrances, timely urgencies and visionary dreams. Crawford invites us into a sacred realm where “everything counts.” When she asks in the opening and title poem, “Can you stay for awhile?” my heart leaps to answer: Yes!

–Prartho Sereno, author of Indian Rope Trick and Elephant Raga, founder of the online writing workshop, Poetic Pilgrimage: Poem-Making as Spiritual Practice. www.prarthosereno.com