Poems for Katie

Written from weekly Rattlecast prompts and kept in chronological order, Poems for Katie became the story Timothy Green didn’t know he was writing: a record of loneliness, divorce, love, and the making of a new life. Direct, formally restless, and emotionally exposed, these poems make a case for poetry as evidence—of what we know before we know we know it.“These poems are both of and for the world—wistful, questioning, urgent and languid at once. Charged with compressed power, they open a door between the distant past and the future coming for us, closing the distance with a word.”—Tishani Doshi, author of A God at the Door“The careful bringing together of autobiographical and sometimes deeply personal details and images, with an equally powerful devotion to the power of the imagination to allow us to transcend even our own failures and successes is what most distinguishes these new poems collected in Poems for Katie, Timothy Green’s new collection. All of it is driven by a clarity of diction and by the poet’s commitment to the inherent music of the language that we curse and bless and dream with on a daily basis. This is more than a good read. This is an adventure. Read these poems.”—Bruce Weigl, author of On the Shores of Welcome Home“Whether writing poems or delivering an apology, ‘it helps, of course, to really mean it.’ In this collection, long-time editor of Rattle magazine, Timothy Green responds to a series of random writing prompts to find what he really means. These exercises transcend mere assignment and find inspiration, particularly in highlights like ‘Message from the Mojave, 2222,’ ‘How to Pack a Parachute,’ and ‘Grocery List Haibun.’”—Wendy Videlock, author of Wise to the WestTimothy Green is the editor of Rattle, managing it’s operations since 2004, and hosts its livestreaming Rattlecast and Critique of the Week. With his wife, Katie Dozier, he co-hosts The Poetry Space_ podcast and co-authored Hot Pink Moon and Did You See the Moon Honey, both from Fungible Editions. His first poetry collection, American Fractal, was published by Red Hen Press, and his new book, Poems for Katie, uses prompt-driven poems written over six years to trace the hidden story of divorce, love, and the subconscious life poetry reveals. A former columnist for the Press-Enterprise newspaper, he holds a master’s in professional writing from USC and co-founded the Wrightwood Arts Center. He lives in The Woodlands, Texas, with Katie and their family. Read more