Notes from the Red Zone. Number 1 in the Seven Kitchens Press ReBound Series, selected by Ron Mohring. Originally published in 1983 by Seal Press. This new third edition includes an introduction by David Chorlton and an Afterword by the author.

Cover image: “Biblis” by Tim Haini; used by permission.

Published: September 1, 2009 [125 copies]
21 pages
ISBN-13: 978-0-9820372-9-4
$9.00

“The passage of twenty-five years has not diminished the relevance of [these] poems. As I have followed Christina Pacosz’s work, I have been impressed by her vision of the world, beset as it is by the problems she addresses. If poetry is to be returned to circulation after a time in the dark, let it be the poetry that exposes recurring concerns and shows determination to deal with them.”
–David Chorlton, in his letter of nomination

Christina Pacosz has been writing most of her life. Her books include Some Winded, Wild Beast (Black and Red, 1985); This Is Not a Place to Sing (West End, 1987); One River (Pudding House, 2001); and Greatest Hits, 1975-2001 (Pudding House, 2002). Raised in a working class Polish family in detroit, Michigan, she has lived in New York City, the Pacific Northwest, North Dakota, the Carolinas and Alaska. She now lives with her husband and Mr. Kitty, their former street cat, in Kansas City, Missouri.

Ms. Pacosz has worked with Dr. Rati Saxena for several years and assisted in various projects associated with the monthly on-line magazine http://www.kritya.in/. She has assisted Iranian poet Farideh Hassanzadeh in translating Nima Yushij. She is listed as a “Recommended Poet” on the web site hosted by Scottish poet and artist Dee Rimbaud.

. . . My heart shudders under red wool,
and there is not enough sun to warm me,
Artemis of the animals, loose
in the red zone, on the brink
of the twenty-first century,
at the close of a millennium of death:

blue whale, Polish Jew, tiger, witch, lion,
sperm whale, whooping crane, black South African,
elk, mountain goat, the women of every country,
slugs in the garden, Indians in Chile, Guatemala,
El Salvador, Tacoma, Detroit, crows in the crops,
rattlesnakes, migrant pickers in Hood River, Yakima,
bald eagle, dolphin, timber wolf, the inhabitants
of any ghetto, refugee or concentration camp, seal,
sea otter, fox, coyote,
the genes of the unborn
flooded with purple light
the eye refuses to see.

The man walks behind the woman
who has been waiting
all her life.

See also:

• Dave Bonta’s review of Notes from the Red Zone at via negativa
• Kimberly Becker’s review at Pemmican
• reviews by Grady Harp, Laurel Johnson, and Merry Youle at Amazon
• Leslie Hayertz’s review at Her Circle ezine
• Bernadette Geyer’s review at BerniE-zine

Please click here to purchase Christina’s chapbook.