Bart Solarczyk

A Few Words About Cait Collins

I had the good fortune to meet Cait in Kent a couple of times. She was so brazenly full of life, loved to joke & laugh. I remember her shamelessly flirting with & teasing this college boy waiter as we drank at Ray's Bar. Poor kid didn't know what to do. He turned red as a tomato but kept bringing the drinks.

She was hesitant to read the first time we met but she did after some encouragement from us all & man she was great. She always seemed more interested in promoting other poets' work while shortchanging her own words. She was generous in spirit & gave so much time & energy toward helping us all. The-hold, the chaps, the Underbeat Journal, all a huge part of her legacy. Her e-mails were always hilarious, she had her own way of communicating, almost in code. Sometimes I wasn't quite sure what she was saying but I loved the words anyway.

Cait welcomed me with open arms into the world of the-hold.com. Every month there would be an outrageous e-mail prompting submissions. If I was late in sending something I'd be hit with a follow-up message bordering on threatening, telling me to get busy. She was like that with so many of us. Sometimes sister, sometimes mother, always friend. A woman who reached deep into our lives & pulled out the best in us. A woman who would not & will not be denied or forgotten.

Last year Cait published a chapbook of my poems at her invitation & all at her expense. She later put up a publications page for me at the-hold.com. When she took ill she was working on a another chap, a collaborative effort featuring Ron Androla, Jeff Filipski & me. She did these things because she cared about what we had to say as artists, she wanted to spread the word but I think she cared as much if not more about us as people. She had enough magic to make you feel that, even from a distance.

I'll miss you Cait. You were a true individual, our sister in black, a once in a lifetime event. Thanks for everything you did for me, for us all, for the word & art & music. If God is really good you'll have a drawer full of fresh socks in heaven.

[Back]