Three Seattle Poets, Part 2: Caitlyn McGehee

What's Caitlyn drinking in this photo?

Our series on the King of the Cats poetry group continues with the writer Caitlyn McGehee. More on these literary notables to come in an interview next week; stay tuned!

FIRST NAME

There is calling to everything—
Even deep in the Mariana, waiting
On a summons like a teen or just
Waiting, like itself, whatever that means.

In a world where was found
A foamflower, a Mahabharata,
You’re bound to find a way
To call to the chimera, a middle

Name, a pet name. When words at last
Sounded earthly enough, the man sitting
On the grass would nod at the parade—
The birds walked on their wings.

If you push hard enough you can
Put your hand through anything.

About Caitlyn McGehee: She overcame a speech impediment early in life in order to better articulate her other impediments. Now: write a poem to look in the face. Then: grappled with all those invented allergies, that 20 minute mile, finding faces to look in the face. Rural poor to urban asshole; awed silence to theatrically unimpressed. Now: where was I? The mile? The South? Cate managed to branch out from her backwater and will continue to hold various cafe jobs around the world. Even when she is alone, she is like two people in a sea of people.