Patricia Carragon. author of Urban Haiku and More, returns with more Haiku, this time inspired by her favorite muse, our sphinx-like companion, the CAT. This book is also filled with Ms. Carragon’s photography as well. Attached are a few samples of feline delight.
Excerpts from Meowku:
topaz sunlight
the storefront cat
makes eye contact
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kerouac kitty
poems unravel
like toilet paper
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
eyes of the cat witch
hypnotize her devotees
cuteness wins more treats
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
like cat’s eyes
doors to inner space
open and shut
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
the singing bowl
cannot compete
with the purring cat
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
shavasana
cat whiskers brushing
the human on the mat
Praise for Meowku:
Aaron Fisher, author of Black Stars of Blood: The Weegee Poems (Main Street Rag Press), says,“Patricia Carragon has done something notable, writing and assembling some 30 pages of haiku about cats (hence, meowku) that are neither cute nor cloying. What they are is smart, funny, and satisfyingly complex — quite an accomplishment in seventeen syllables.”
David Dephy, a Georgian/American award-winning poet, novelist, and performer, sums it up: “These poems themselves are warm and mystical like kittens. They crawl from page to page with catlike grace as you caress them with your eyes and breath, as you stare them in the eye you become cautious like them and don’t want your silence to be disturbed by anyone while reading.”
Judy Kamilhor, author of Before the Big Bang and Cat Dreams, notes, “Enjoy a delightful romp of word play through a New York filled with mischievous cats and kittens. Accompanied by lovely photos, Patricia Carragon’s poems capture moments of city life with feline friends and sometimes foes. Who knew that this ancient Japanese forms fit modern New York life with cats so purrfectly?”And lastly, Ayaz Daryl Nielsen, Editor of Bear Creek Haiku, says, “Patricia Carragon is known throughout our creative and feline worlds as “that Brooklyn girl.” The humor, noblesse, and yes, loveliness of her nationwide nurturing presence are aptly, beautifully encapsulated within these thirty-five pages of photos, haiku, and micro (yet mighty) poems. Meowku is nurturing “cattitude” we all need.
About Patricia Carragon:
Patricia Carragon loves cupcakes, chocolate, cats, and haiku. She is an avid writer of short stories, prose, and poetry. She has been widely published online and in print. Her most recent publications include Arriving at a Shoreline Anthology (great weather for MEDIA, 2022), Bear Creek Haiku, Beat Generation Anthology 2022, First Literary Review-East, I Wanna Be Loved by You: Poems on Marilyn Monroe, Jerry Jazz Musician, Moonstone Press, MER VOX Quarterly, Muddy River Poetry Review, Out Loud, an LGBTQA Literary Arts Anthology (Red or Green Books), The Rutherford Red Wheelbarrow anthology, et al. Her fiction piece “What Has to Happen Next” has been nominated for Sundress Publications Annual Best of the Net Anthology. Her poem “Paris the Beautiful” won Poem of the Week from great weather for MEDIA. She was nominated by Bear Creek Haiku for a Pushcart Prize. Her debut novel, Angel Fire, is from Alien Buddha Press. Her books from Poets Wear Prada are Meowku and The Cupcake Chronicles. She hosts Brownstone Poets and is the editor-in-chief of its annual anthology.
Publishing beautifully designed volumes of well-crafted poetry — and now fiction — you want to read, since October 2006 from Hoboken, New Jersey, birthplace of Frank Sinatra and professional baseball.
We regularly write about all things relating to cats on our Blog Katzenworld!
My partner and I are owned by five cheeky cats that get up to all kinds of mischief that of course, you’ll also be able to find out more about on our Blog
If you are interested in joining us by becoming a regular contributor/guest author do drop us a message @ info@katzenworld.co.uk .
Angel Fire, Carragon’s Debut Novel from Alien Buddha Press,
art by Su Polo
After years in the making, Angel Fire is now a reality. Thank you Alien Buddha Press and my copy editor, Cindy Hochman of “100 Proof” Copyediting Services, for believing in my debut novel’s value.
Angel Fire is a novel, inspired by personal experiences and nightmares, that delves into the lives of three women protagonists, Sarah Kahn, Kate Robbins, and Dana Chu, living and working in New York City during the ’90s through the post- 9/11 world and the Obama election. The book is comprised of over 57,000 words, broken down into twenty-one chapters and an epilogue. The narrative contains elements of magic realism/ urban fantasy, and beyond the wry humor, there are bizarre twists involving erotic dreams, curses, cats, and paranormal visitations from a precocious ten-year-old girl named Allie, turning this story into a psychological thriller.
Patricia Carragon. author of Urban Haiku and More, returns with more Haiku, this time inspired by her favorite muse, our sphinx-like companion, the CAT.
Aaron Fisher, author of Black Stars of Blood: The Weegee Poems (Main Street Rag Press), says,“Patricia Carragon has done something notable, writing and assembling some 30 pages of haiku about cats (hence, meowku) that are neither cute nor cloying. What they are is smart, funny, and satisfyingly complex — quite an accomplishment in seventeen syllables.”
David Dephy, a Georgian/American award-winning poet, novelist, and performer, sums it up: “These poems themselves are warm and mystical like kittens. They crawl from page to page with catlike grace as you caress them with your eyes and breath, as you stare them in the eye you become cautious like them and don’t want your silence to be disturbed by anyone while reading.”
Judy Kamilhor, author of Before the Big Bang and Cat Dreams, notes, “Enjoy a delightful romp of word play through a New York filled with mischievous cats and kittens. Accompanied by lovely photos, Patricia Carragon’s poems capture moments of city life with feline friends and sometimes foes. Who knew that this ancient Japanese forms fit modern New York life with cats so purrfectly?”
And lastly, Ayaz Daryl Nielsen, Editor of Bear Creek Haiku, says, “Patricia Carragon is known throughout our creative and feline worlds as “that Brooklyn girl.” The humor, noblesse, and yes, loveliness of her nationwide nurturing presence are aptly, beautifully encapsulated within these thirty-five pages of photos, haiku, and micro (yet mighty) poems. Meowku is nurturing “cattitude” we all need.
About Poets Wear Prada:
Publishing beautifully designed volumes of well-crafted poetry — and now fiction — you want to read, since October 2006 from Hoboken, New Jersey, birthplace of Frank Sinatra and professional baseball.
Some delicious stories about cupcakes that come to life:
cover by Roxanne Hoffman
From Alison Ross, publisher and editor of “Clockwise Cat:”It is a testament to her vivacious spirit that Patricia Carragon would think to personify cupcakes as a device to chronicle quotidian activities and as a mode to assuage the anxieties of her daily jaunts. Tasty diary entries mingle humor and contemplative musings in a way that not only tantalizes the tongue but stimulates all of the sensory receptors, as her imagery erupts from the page to entice one’s very soul.”
Linda Lerner, author of Yes, The Ducks Were Real, says, “What begins as a normal work day changes for Carragon when she sees “cupcakes — the size of hobbits — parading the halls” of her office. From that point on, humanoid confections take over her life — and ours — in this allegorical tale depicting the underlying madness of our ordinary lives. No reader will be able to forget holding a kitchen knife to a devil’s food cupcake topped with “pink buttercream clouds” and hearing a scream, or the sight of a “badly bitten banana nut” asking for spare change on the train.”
Maria Lisella, Queens Poet Laureate 2015-2018, writes, “A funny thing happened on activist/writer Patricia Carragon’s way to her favorite sweet shop: a swirling journey peopled with cupcake commuters who are wise and witty, inside a world that sometimes banishes humans in favor of those savvy cupcakes. Carragon writes with humor, deft language, and an energy that sweeps us into buttercream icing. Both participant and spectator, she’s sometimes pressed against glass looking in; other times, the cupcakes lean in and confide in her. Pay close attention to the wisdom her cupcakes impart: “We are her to look delicious and to please the sweet tooth of the human race.”: “Humans are better off as desserts.”
And Susan H. Maurer, author of Josephine Butler exclaims,”A collection of Poetry.Carragon’s cupcake capers? Read this and weep. It is a delight, and a double delight when you get to hear her read it. The fine playfulness of this book is worth three times the cover cost. Own it and get such sweetness, calorie free. “
About Poets Wear Prada:
Publishing beautifully designed volumes of well-crafted poetry — and now fiction — you want to read, since October 2006 from Hoboken, New Jersey, birthplace of Frank Sinatra and professional baseball.
Distinguished by subtle story-telling and a deft use of words and metaphor, the poems in PatriciaCarragon’s new collection, Innocence, speak to the heart and soul. Vivid backdrops include a Parisian café, the circus, a windswept city day, Coney Island, and a bar full of bird-like characters. Color and nature star in many of the poignant poems that draw on elusive love and the setback of time. The poems’ heroine rarely frets, but accepts conflict and missed connections with grace. Readers will delight in Patricia Carragon’s poems brimming with irony, imagination, and ordinary life gone amok.
–Amy Barone, Author and poet of “Kamikaze Dance”(Finishing Line Press)
With a palette full of confessional colors, and the urgency of Lady Macbeth wailing ‘Out, damned spot,’ Patricia Carragon speaks truth to childhood in a voice that is at once shocking and resonant. While the title of her book is Innocence, these lines are anything but benign. There is, however, a vital remnant of a happy fairytale that survives in Carragon’s poems: the M-A-G-I-C she sprinkles into each and every one of them, reminding us to hold fast to those treasures that give us permission to live happily ever after.
–Cindy Hochman, Editor-in-chief, First Literary Review-East
Patricia Carragon writes with acute sensibility, grace, and pith. She juggles scenes from her life and makes visible what the ‘wind has erased’. Made to feel unworthy and outcast as a child, her self-expression was admonished, and she was forced to keep within the lines. This is a beautiful book of poems about the power of imagination and a resilient spirit that has risen like a phoenix from the ashes of innocence to gift us all with her creative magic.
–Karen Neuberg, Author, “Myself Taking Stage“ (Finishing Line Press) and “Detailed Still” (Poets Wear Prada)
Spoken Word Sundays Zoom: Patricia Carragon and Robert Anthony Gibbons
Sunday, January 16, 2022
4:00 PM 5:30 PM
on Zoom
Happy to be reading with my Poets Wear Prada brother, Robert Anthony Gibbons. I will be reading an excerpt from my novel, Angel Fire, and from Meowku, plus new poems.
FROM GREAT WEATHER FOR MEDIA:
As COVID transmission rates in NYC are currently high, we have decided to temporarily move our Parkside Lounge show to Zoom.
Please keep checking our website and Facebook page for updates on future readings. If we can’t be at the Parkside at any time, we will be on Zoom.
Featuring Patricia Carragon and Robert Anthony Gibbons
Plus poetry open mic
Hosted by Jerry T. Johnson
Patricia Carragon has been widely published online and in print. Her most recent publications include Acoustic Levitation, Buddha Press, Bear Creek Haiku, Danse Macabre, First Literary Review-East, Jerry Jazz Musician,Muddy River Poetry Review, The Rutherford Red Wheelbarrow, Nirla Press, et al. Her debut novel, Angel Fire, is from Alien Buddha Press. Her latest book from Poets Wear Prada is Meowku. She hosts Brownstone Poets and is the editor-in-chief of its annual anthology. She is an executive editor for Home Planet News Online. Patricia lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Robert Anthony Gibbons, a native Floridian, came to New York City in 2007 in search of his muse Langston Hughes and found a vibrant contemporary poetry community at the Cornelia Street Cafe, the Green Pavilion, Nomad’s Choir, Brownstone Poets, Hydrogen JukeBox, Saturn Series, and Phoenix among other venues.
Robert has been published in over thirty literary magazines and in several notable anthologies. Recent publication credits include Year of the Poet, Killens Review, Tribes, Involuntary Magazine, Peregrine, Expound, Promethean, Turtle Island Quarterly, Killer Whale,Suisun Valley Review, and the Bronx Memoir Project: Vol. 2 published by the Bronx Council of the Arts.
He has received funding from the Puffin Foundation (2021), United States Artists (2020), and most recently the New York Foundation for the Arts.(2021).
Spoken Word Sundays Zoom: Patricia Carragon and Robert Anthony Gibbons
Sunday, January 16, 2022
4:00 PM 5:30 PM
on Zoom
Happy to be reading with my Poets Wear Prada brother, Robert Anthony Gibbons. I will be reading an excerpt from my novel, Angel Fire, and from Meowku, plus new poems.
From great weather for media:
As COVID transmission rates in NYC are currently high, we have decided to temporarily move our Parkside Lounge show to Zoom. Please register via Eventbrite by 3:30 pm on the day of the event. The host will take open mic signups.
Please keep checking our website and Facebook page for updates on future readings. If we can’t be at the Parkside at any time, we will be on Zoom.
Featuring Patricia Carragon and Robert Anthony Gibbons
Plus poetry open mic
Hosted by Jerry T. Johnson
Patricia Carragon has been widely published online and in print. Her most recent publications include Acoustic Levitation, Buddha Press, Bear Creek Haiku, Danse Macabre, First Literary Review-East, Jerry Jazz Musician,Muddy River Poetry Review, The Rutherford Red Wheelbarrow, Nirla Press, et al. Her debut novel, Angel Fire, is from Alien Buddha Press. Her latest book from Poets Wear Prada is Meowku. She hosts Brownstone Poets and is the editor-in-chief of its annual anthology. She is an executive editor for Home Planet News Online. Patricia lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Robert Anthony Gibbons, a native Floridian, came to New York City in 2007 in search of his muse Langston Hughes and found a vibrant contemporary poetry community at the Cornelia Street Cafe, the Green Pavilion, Nomad’s Choir, Brownstone Poets, Hydrogen JukeBox, Saturn Series, and Phoenix among other venues.
Robert has been published in over thirty literary magazines and in several notable anthologies. Recent publication credits include Year of the Poet, Killens Review, Tribes, Involuntary Magazine, Peregrine, Expound, Promethean, Turtle Island Quarterly, Killer Whale,Suisun Valley Review, and the Bronx Memoir Project: Vol. 2 published by the Bronx Council of the Arts.
He has received funding from the Puffin Foundation (2021), United States Artists (2020), and most recently the New York Foundation for the Arts.(2021).
Patricia Carragon. author of Urban Haiku and More, returns with more Haiku, this time inspired by her favorite muse, our sphinx-like companion, the CAT.
Aaron Fisher, author ofBlack Stars of Blood: The Weegee Poems (Main Street Rag Press), says,“Patricia Carragon has done something notable, writing and assembling some 30 pages of haiku about cats (hence, meowku) that are neither cute nor cloying. What they are is smart, funny, and satisfyingly complex — quite an accomplishment in seventeen syllables.”
David Dephy, a Georgian/American award-winning poet, novelist, and performer, sums it up: “These poems themselves are warm and mystical like kittens. They crawl from page to page with catlike grace as you caress them with your eyes and breath, as you stare them in the eye you become cautious like them and don’t want your silence to be disturbed by anyone while reading.”
Judy Kamilhor, author of Before the Big Bang and Cat Dreams, notes, “Enjoy a delightful romp of word play through a New York filled with mischievous cats and kittens. Accompanied by lovely photos, Patricia Carragon’s poems capture moments of city life with feline friends and sometimes foes. Who knew that this ancient Japanese forms fit modern New York life with cats so purrfectly?”
And lastly, Ayaz Daryl Nielsen, Editor of Bear Creek Haiku, says, “Patricia Carragon is known throughout our creative and feline worlds as “that Brooklyn girl.” The humor, noblesse, and yes, loveliness of her nationwide nurturing presence are aptly, beautifully encapsulated within these thirty-five pages of photos, haiku, and micro (yet mighty) poems. Meowku is nurturing “cattitude” we all need.
Some delicious stories about cupcakes that come to life:
From Alison Ross, publisher and editor of “Clockwise Cat:”It is a testament to her vivacious spirit that Patricia Carragon would think to personify cupcakes as a device to chronicle quotidian activities and as a mode to assuage the anxieties of her daily jaunts. Tasty diary entries mingle humor and contemplative musings in a way that not only tantalizes the tongue but stimulates all of the sensory receptors, as her imagery erupts from the page to entice one’s very soul.”
Linda Lerner, author of Yes, The Ducks Were Real, says, “What begins as a normal work day changes for Carragon when she sees “cupcakes — the size of hobbits — parading the halls” of her office. From that point on, humanoid confections take over her life — and ours — in this allegorical tale depicting the underlying madness of our ordinary lives. No reader will be able to forget holding a kitchen knife to a devil’s food cupcake topped with “pink buttercream clouds” and hearing a scream, or the sight of a “badly bitten banana nut” asking for spare change on the train.”
Maria Lisella, Queens Poet Laureate 2015-2018, writes, “A funny thing happened on activist/writer Patricia Carragon’s way to her favorite sweet shop: a swirling journey peopled with cupcake commuters who are wise and witty, inside a world that sometimes banishes humans in favor of those savvy cupcakes. Carragon writes with humor, deft language, and an energy that sweeps us into buttercream icing. Both participant and spectator, she’s sometimes pressed against glass looking in; other times, the cupcakes lean in and confide in her. Pay close attention to the wisdom her cupcakes impart: “We are her to look delicious and to please the sweet tooth of the human race.”: “Humans are better off as desserts.”
And Susan H. Maurer, author of Josephine Butler exclaims,”A collection of Poetry.Carragon’s cupcake capers? Read this and weep. It is a delight, and a double delight when you get to hear her read it. The fine playfulness of this book is worth three times the cover cost. Own it and get such sweetness, calorie free. “
About Patricia Carragon:
Patricia Carragon loves cupcakes, chocolate, cats, and haiku. She is an avid writer of short stories, prose, and poetry. She has been widely published online and in print. Her recent publications include The Avocet: A Journal of Nature Poetry, A Gathering of the Tribes, Alien Buddha Press,Bear Creek Haiku, BigCityLit,The Café Review, Concrete Mist Press, First Literary Review-East, great weather for MEDIA, Indolent Books, Jerry Jazz Musician, Live Mag!,Madness Muse Press, Muddy River Poetry Review, Narrative Northeast, The New Verse News, Nixes Mate, North of Oxford, Panoplyzine, Paterson Literary Review, Poetrybay,Poets Wear Prada, Oddball Magazine, Orbis International Literary Journal, Redheaded Stepchild, Right Hand Pointing, Sensations Magazine, Sensitive Skin, Silver Birch Press,Stardust Haiku, et al. Her fiction piece “What Has to Happen Next” has been nominated for Sundress Publications Annual Best of the Net Anthology and her poem Paris the Beautiful won Poem of the Week from great weather for MEDIA. Her debut novel, Angel Fire, is from Alien Buddha Press. Herlatest books from Poets Wear Prada are Meowku and The Cupcake Chronicles, and Innocence from Finishing Line Press. Her first books of poems were Journey to the Center of My Mind from Rogue Scholars Press, followed by Urban Haiku and More from Fierce Grace Press. Patricia hosts Brownstone Poets and is the editor-in-chief of its annual anthology. She is an executive editor for Home Planet News Online. Patricia lives in Brooklyn, NY, USA.
About Poets Wear Prada:
Publishing beautifully designed volumes of well-crafted poetry — and now fiction — you want to read, since October 2006 from Hoboken, New Jersey, birthplace of Frank Sinatra and professional baseball.
A New Decade for Sharing Words. Mark your calendars for these upcoming events with other wordsmiths and more! Will be bringing my latest books,”Meowku” and “The Cupcake Chronicles” from Poets Wear Prada to the reading. Hope to have my new novel, “Angel Fire,” for the Secret Loft reading.
Saturday, February 15
Boog City 13.5 Arts FestivalFrom 1:30 p.m. to 8:25 p.m.
1:30 p.m. Miwa Gemini (music) 2:00 p.m. Jim Feast2:10 p.m. Bonny Finberg2:20 p.m. Yuko Otomo2:30 p.m. Eve Packer 2:40 p.m. Matthew Hupert2:55 p.m. Susan Weiman3:05 p.m. Dorothy Friedman August3:15 p.m. break3:25 p.m. Jane Ormerod3:35 p.m. David Lawton3:45 p.m. Natalie Mack (music)4:00 p.m. Evie Ivy4:10 p.m. Thomas Fucaloro4:20 p.m. Jason Zuzga4:35 p.m. Natalie Mack (music)4:50 p.m. Poetry Talk Talk, featuring Joanna Fuhrman and Jean-Paul Pecqueurreading and in conversation5:20 p.m. Amy Barone5:30 p.m. Patricia Carragon5:40 p.m. Hugo dos Santos5:55 p.m. Jason Trachtenburg (music)6:10 p.m. Cynthia Dewi Oka6:25 p.m. Meghan Boltz6:40 p.m. Kirwyn Sutherland6:55 p.m. Wanda Phipps7:05 p.m. Suzan Jivan7:20 p.m. Jason Trachtenburg (music)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thursday, February 27 NeuroNautic Institute Presents From 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Joel Allegretti Patricia Carragon John J. Trause Hosted by Matthew Hupert
KGB Red Room 85 E.4th Street NYC 10003 3rd Floor up Free Admission – 2 Drink Minimum – Open Mic
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Friday, March 6 The New Feminine: Poetry/Flash Reading and Open Mic Meet and hearthe fabulous writers from Poets Wear Prada: Patricia CarragonIris N. SchwartzTantra-zawadiChocolate Waters Hosted by Roxanne Hoffman
Bureau of General Services / Queer Division208 W 13th St, Rm 210 NYC 10011from 7 p.m to 9 p.m.$10 suggested donation or whatever you can afford!!! plus panel discussion Open mic ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Secret Loft March Madness with Carragon and more Thursday, March 26 7:30-8: Open mic sign-up
8-10: Open mic and featured readers
Secret Loft 137 W 14th St, New York, NY 10011
$8 General Admission. Details to come on Advance General admission.
I’m happy to announce that I will be one of the featured readers at the amazing Secret Loft. I will be bringing copies of MEOWKU, THE CUPCAKE CHRONICLES, INNOCENCE, and hopefully, my first novel, ANGEL FIRE.
I will be reading that day with other readers. Will update you when I know their names.There will be an open mic sign-up sheet by the refreshment area. Please keep your reading under 5 minutes.
A big shout out to David Dephy’s stellar book review for “MEOWKU” (Poets Wear Prada) in the Issue #7 of Home Planet News Online.
MEOWKU: poems by Patricia Carragon, Poets Wear Prada, 2019
ISBN-13: 978-1-946116-21-5, Paperback:
46 pages, List Price: $12.00
As I was reading Patricia Carragon’s poetry, I was overcome with a peculiar feeling – as if I felt a warm nearness of a kitten while sensing its absolutely unmistakable alienation.
Plenty has been written and said about cats, but rarely anyone has managed to create poetry so catlike, and with such laconic ease. I was reading the book, thinking “do I love cats or not?” but whether I understand them or not does not have much importance now, as this book is beyond any stereotype and when we talk about cats and their universe, it’s hard not to remember T.S. Eliot, in whose writing every word feels like it’s been written specifically for you so that you can see and examine a unique world which you yearn to enter, while at the same time feeling some trepidation about entering it – as if something is stopping you. It’s the same feeling now with this book; I don’t mean just the intellectual and emotional union with Eliot’s work, but also the impulse of creativity and the simplest, yet most revealing forms of expression.
I believe every work is judged by how closely it reaches the original aim of the author and by the mastery with which it reaches its destination. I believe the aim is the reader’s heart, the heart of each human, no matter what age or sex they may be, whoever reads the text and feels some inexplicable, wonderful strangeness…a loving nearness of kittens . . .
Patricia Carragon's Blog: Words Give Me the Will to Write 
