Poetry. Winner of the 2011 Indie Lit Award for Poetry. CATALINA begins on America's east coast, where the "dense woods are full of secrets / full of children with their heads ducked against the weather." The book's first poems (in the "Coast" section) explore a gradual coming to awareness on that right coast. The book's second section ("To Coast") takes the long journey west to the Pacific, "through the great rippling heartland, a bridge between Oceans," with an accompanying focus on the mysteries and conflicts that vie for our attention as we lose the momentum of youth and settle in to our real lives. The third set of poems ("Being Here") celebrates the present moment, the self as a bridge between generations, as a conduit of the life force. The poems of the fourth and final section ("Looking Out") study the view out beyond the continent one has crossed; to what is next, the possibility of flight into other worlds beyond the rituals of everyday. There, out in the "endless churning ocean" is the next body of land, an island that is "where to go next, where not to go." The book's poems calmly open the doors to reveal magic and tragedy and make the case for looking out while staying put. These are poems of the restless American spirit—"We ache for shuttling further, for the oblivion of the new"—and the peace that comes with the recognition that there is nowhere better to go.

Author City: Palos Verdes, CA USA

Laurie Soriano lives in Palos Verdes, California. She attended the University of Pennsylvania, where she studied English in the College of Arts and Sciences and studied marketing in the Wharton School of Business; while at Penn, Laurie studied poetry at the undergraduate and MFA levels. She received a law degree from the University of California, Davis, where she also participated in MFA workshops. Laurie is now a music attorney in Los Angeles, representing recording artists, songwriters and others in the music industry. She is married to Steve Rehaut and has three children—Lucas, Miranda and Grace—and current pets Lulu, Albert and Chico.

Reviews and Other Links
author site
Lawrence Kessenich @ Boston Area Small Press and Poetry Scene
interview by the 2011 Poetry Board @ Independent Literary Awards