Katie (K)

I am a poet and mother and family member and friend and employee. I am whatever that adds up to, plus whatever leaks and dreams from there. 

I live in St. Stephen, New Brunswick– a through-town between the lips of Maine and Canada. I’ve lived here lots of times and in other places in between. I carry all those places in my body and imagination.  

I’m introverted by nature but my art-making self is extremely social. I’m the annoying friend who texts ideas for other people’s art lives at annoying times of day. I’ve loved organizing events and festivals and heading-up collaborative projects through the years– it’s a way of spending time with friends and making friends and harvesting life. If I have an apple, I always want to share it (joy of that particular apple). Covid years have been hard on me in that way. This project has been a bethlehem star and a whole buzzing orchard. 

The themes of my life and my art have been consistent. It’s funny to look back and see the shape of preoccupation. Maybe the shape holds but expands as we grow into the world.Varieties of light, difficult love, miracle, connection, settling down into the world, expanding into beautiful smallness. 

My poems for this collection were written on the traditional and unceded territory of the Peskotomuhkati (Passamaquoddy) people, covered by the Treaties of Peace and Friendship, and I am grateful for their welcome and friendship.