Goodnight, Cait

The small press has lost a legendary soul with the recent passing of Cait Collins, editor of The Hold. The breast cancer that she valiantly fought claimed Cait's life on Saturday, February 26 at a hospital in Camden, New Jersey.

I had the pleasure of meeting Cait twice, both times in Kent, Ohio at July 4 readings hosted by Cheryl Townsend of Cat's Books, in 1999 and 2000. I took the picture displayed here in 1999 and it gives good indication of the kind of exuberance Cait exuded everywhere she went. She was what we call down south a live wire and she lit up the space she occupied like a 1,000-watt bulb turned up to the max. You could bet that before much time passed, she would pull out the legendary "sock" and next thing you knew everybody was about to light up and be somebody, or try to at the very least.

Until her illness struck, Cait published The Hold so frequently that it was impossible to understand how she managed to do all that work and still have time to do anything else. She was a ball of energy unparallel. Cait took the zine from a small, email organ with a handful of contributors and turned it into one of the premier underground writing sites on the Net, featuring the work of some of the best.

And, on top of all that, she was a superb poet and artist in her own right, as a look back through the archives of this magazine (and hers) will well attest. Her poems in the last issue of The Hold are a testament to a woman of great courage, one who could find humor in the face of a death she knew was a very real possibility.

Since Thunder Sandwich is not due for a new installment until July 1, I have decided to place this tribute on both #25 and the upcoming #26. In addition, the next issue will be dedicated to the memory of Cait Collins.

Will Rogers once said that he never met a man he didn't like. I think we could turn that around in Cait's case and say she never met anyone who didn't like her, without fear of getting too far from the facts. She was simply a force of nature and she will be sorely missed.

Below are links to poems and other tributes to Cait by some of the many friends and colleagues she had. I shall add new tributes as they arrive.

Poetry, Prose & Song: Mark Hartenbach Alan Catlin Ron Androla Dave Dembinski S.A. Griffin D.B. Cox Jim Chandler John Dorsey Peter Magliocco Cheryl Townsend A. D. Winans Carter Monroe t. k. splake Tim Peeler Jeff Filipski Mike Boyle Bart Solarczyk Donna Hill Sheila Murphy Lyn Lifshin John Korn Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal Joe Lisowski Bill Beaver Eric C. Harrison Jan McLaughlin Michael Basinski