Boatman, Pass By by Kathleen Holliday

$15.99

 

When the apocalypse comes (and I assure you, it’s on the way) make sure to have a copy of Kathleen Holliday’s Boatman, Pass By with you. These are the poems that will get you through it; that will remind you what it was all about, or at least to wonder what it was all about. Death dances through this book, reminding you amidst the fun of old flings, amidst how some nights, alone, you simply become one of the cats, that it’s on the way; that it’s so intriguing you might want to see what it’s all about. But then it’s diffused with life-moments, public displays of affection, and a consistent need to put new words in your eyes. You’ll want to hold off on that final boat ride, just to see what else may come along. Whatever does, bring Boatman, Pass By with you. This collection is exactly what you need to get you through.

–Rick Lupert – Author of The Tokyo-Van Nuys Express, and God Wrestler: A Poem for Every Torah Portion, founder/host of Poetry Super Highway, www.poetrysuperhighway.com

 

Boatman, Pass By is an illuminating collection of poems that reflect experiences many of us have shared: loneliness, loss, isolation, and death of a loved one. Holliday touches these memories and events with fresh and surprising metaphors: “The news of your death/carried me like a runaway horse…” She writes about the pandemic and offers us unique and intimate moments. As she says, “So today, when one of my sisters/snorted derisively, / What can you do in the apocalypse?/ I said, I’ll tell the tale around the fire/of how we survived,..”/ And in this chapbook, she does. Holliday captures our humanity with this honest collection worth careful reading…and reading again.

Gayle Kaune author, All the Birds Awake, Still Life in the Physical World, Noise from Stars

 

 

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Boatman, Pass By

by Kathleen Holliday

$15.99, paper

979-8-88838-219-6

2023

Boatman, Pass By, the second chapbook by poet, Kathleen Holliday, explores themes of love, loss and family heritage. Several poems were written at the onset of the pandemic and reflect that emotional landscape, the effects of isolation and uncertainty (Another Evening During Quarantine); other poems look back at family history (Home Fires, In a Monastery Garden),

As in her previous chapbook, Putting My Ash on the Line, these are poems rich in metaphor, word-play and humor, even when dark; poems prompted by our current state of the world, as a whole, these poems comprise a “…tale around the fire/of how we survived.”

Described by a family member as a “high-functioning bibliopath,” Kathleen Holliday is most likely to be found reading and writing. Her first chapbook, Putting My Ash on the Line, was published by Finishing Line Press (2020). Her poems have appeared in many literary journals including The Bellingham Review, Cathexis Northwest Press, New Ohio Review, Nimrod International Journal, Poet Lore and SHARK REEF Literary Magazine. A graduate of Augsburg University, Minneapolis, MN, Kathleen lives on an island in the Salish Sea in Washington State. For more, see: https://www.kathleenholliday.com.

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