Catherine Chandler

The comment you are replying to does not exist.

Re-Size Text: A A A A Comment

RSS blog print

Catherine Chandler’s most recent collection is Pointing Home (Kelsay Books, 2019). She is also the author of The Frangible Hour (University of Evansville Press), winner of the 2016 Richard Wilbur Award; Lines of Flight (Able Muse Press), shortlisted for the Poets’ Prize; Glad and Sorry Seasons (Biblioasis); as well as three short collections: For No Good Reason, All or Nothing, and This Sweet Order. She is the winner of the 2010 Howard Nemerov Sonnet Award, the Leslie Mellichamp Prize, theLyric Quarterly Award. Chandler is the editor of Tim Murphy’s Last Poems, which will be published in 2021 by North Dakota State University Press. She currently lives in Saint-Lazare-de-Vaudreuil, Québec, Canada.
 Of Tim Murphy, Chandler writes:

    At 3 a.m. on May 13, 2018, I awoke from a disturbing dream in which Tim lay on his deathbed. I couldn’t get back to sleep, so I checked my emails. Astonishingly, there was a 2:59 a.m. message from Tim asking if I would edit his latest manuscript, Last Poems, consisting of over two hundred poems, with more to come. He jokingly wrote that I would be his EfH, except the H would stand for Heaven.
     For the next six weeks we worked together for innumerable hours on a daily basis. Ever hopeful for one more autumn hunt with Chucky, Tim wrote feverishly, inspired by the Holy Spirit. On June 6 alone, he sent me three new sonnets, saying, that was it for the day. A few hours later, another sonnet arrived with the message, “I lied.”
     On June 17, Tim’s brother, Jim, emailed me Tim’s final poem, “Lonesome Dove Revisited,” which Tim had dictated to him. The following day, Tim listened to the audio recording I had made of every message from Eratosphere members. This touched Tim deeply and brought him much joy.
     Tim Murphy was my mentor and constant supporter on and off Eratosphere for nearly fifteen years. I miss him.

________
Editor’s Note: “EfH” is “Editor from Hell”—a title conferred de facto on Alan Sullivan during his tenure as the moderator of Able Muse's Eratosphere Deep End forum.