CATHRYN COFELL
Reviews
About Stick Figure with Skirt:
"Stick Figure With Skirt is at turns humorous and morose. But no matter what, these poems are always pleading to or against loneliness, “Please memo me home…Please home me…” This book is Dickinsonian in its way of believing in the power of the mind, the internal world, the imagination that always reaches beyond the self."
- Jericho Brown, author of The Tradition
"In these wise and often witty poems, Cathryn Cofell explores the complicated intersections between what we commonly refer to as making a living vs. having a life. Honest, insightful, and formally dexterous, Cofell—the self-described “Lucille Ball of Zen”—reminds us that, ultimately, being fully human is our true life’s work. Poems like hers help us do it."
- Grace Bauer, author of MEAN/TIME
"Cathryn Cofell's Stick Figure with Skirt points sharply at the frenzy and anxiety of the "busy culture" we now inhabit, where there is always something to do. In these poems, Cofell fights against the routine by observing and celebrating the details, and poking fun at the tedium."
-Tara Betts, author of Break the Habit
About Sister Satellite:
"Cofell’s language is sometimes enigmatic but always meaningful, energy-filled and magnetic, 'gasoline ... flame' tempered by the light of a 'glowing moon.' Brilliant."
- Vince Gotera, Editor, North American Review
"With lines that brighten like 'sugar-lit toddlers' leaping in a multi-colored plastic ball pit, the poems in this collection dazzle and hum. They will stay in your mind's orbit long after."
- Oliver de la Paz, author of Requiem for the Orchard
"In its emotional and intellectual candor, and creative wisdom, Sister Satellite merits as wide a readership as possible and Cofell deserves some kind of literary award for having written it."
- Mark Zimmermann, author of Impersonations
About Sweet Curdle:
"Cathryn Cofell has written a beautiful and bloody collection of poetry about being a woman, mother and lover. The poems here scream authenticity; the language is evocative, and at times arresting. Highly recommended."
- Doug Holder/ Ibbetson Update