Calabash
by Johanna M. Bedford (a Gallery Bookshop staff member), Jane Harris Austin, Mary Bradish
O'Connor, and M. L. Harrison Mackie.
Poems from the Collection
Written during a difficult year that included chemotherapy and the death of
a parent, these provocative poems are a well-crafted mix of deceptively
simple lyrics and complex, formal verse.
The authors explain that a calabash is a gourd, especially on used as a
rattle or drum. "We hope our calabash poems shake and rattle, resonating
with life and dreams."
"As writers, we are part of a tribe who drink from the same well. It is as
if what's inside gives us a special relationship to each other. We could be
what Hawaiians call Îcalabash cousins,' friends who are as close as
relatives. When Hawaiians use the word calabash alone, it means mixing bowl,
which is literally what our writing group -- any writing group -- is."
Calabash is published by Comptche's Pot Shard Press. M. L. Mackie decided to
become an independent publisher to put new and barely heard poetic voices
into print. M. L. is especially interested in promoting the work of poets
over forty.
Pot Shard's next book, Say Yes Quickly will consist of poems local
psychotherapist Mary Bradish O'Connor has written since she was diagnosed
with ovarian cancer last year.
Two books are planned for 1998. One will be the winner of a Pot Shard Press
Poetry Contest open to northern California poets over forty. "Pot Shard has
a mission and Mendocino is its first beneficiary."