Mark Hartenbach

cait collins was someone who got things done. she was editor of the hold--both online & paper, & she also published chapbooks. she published one of mine a couple years ago. cait was very generous with the copies she gave me. when i mentioned a small mistake in the first printing that might be patched up if there was a second printing--she immediately did more & sent me another large box. as those of you in the underground know, publishing is not a money-making venture. it's done out of love for the art period. cait obviously loved what she was doing.
 
i only met cait once. that was at a reading in kent, ohio at cat's bookstore. cait's poetry was influenced by her literary hero charles bukowski--she had a bag of dirt from buk's gravesite (& a sock full of fruits of the soil with her that day also). cait's poems were freestyling, wild & rambunctious, but in person she was laid back, friendly, cool.
 
when i exchanged e-mails with cait while she was going through chemotherapy,  ect. for her cancer, she never complained. she went out fighting. cait was tough. probably stronger than most of us. i'm glad i met cait on this journey. we love you cait.

[Back]