Cathy Porter Knihy

After marrying Count Leo Tolstoy, the renowned author of Anna Karenina and War and Peace , Sofia Tolstoy kept a detailed diary until his death in 1910. Her life was not an easy one: she idealized her husband but was tormented by him. She lived against the background of one of the most turbulent periods in her country’s history, as old feudal Russia was transformed by three revolutions and three major international wars. Yet it is as Sofia Tolstoy’s own life story—the study of one woman’s private experience—that these diaries are most valuable and moving. They reveal a woman of tremendous vital energy and poetic sensibility who, in the face of provocation and suffering, continued to strive for the higher things in life and to remain indomitable.

Cathy Porter's new chapbook evokes the essence of interpersonal relationships shaped by the spaces between people. It explores themes of dead-end jobs, graveyard shifts, and the struggles of clerks facing armed robberies for meager pay. The collection paints a vivid picture of rootless veterans battling PTSD, weekends filled with karaoke, and the cyclical nature of life. The poems are framed by reflections on Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, capturing the essence of dwindling hopes and the relentless passage of time. Yet, Porter echoes Dylan Thomas's call to "Rage, rage against the dying of the light," urging readers to engage deeply with her work. The collection addresses inequities and indignities faced by everyday people, revealing the pain experienced by the unlucky. Porter's precise storytelling offers hard truths, as seen in "Inclusion," where she poignantly illustrates the struggle for acceptance in a world marked by exclusion. This collection stands out as her strongest work, highlighting social injustice, bad luck, and the resilience of workers enduring unfairness, ill health, and economic oppression. Porter's powerful voice demands to be read and revisited, resonating with the shared human experience.