Quill & Parchment:

Elegies for Michael Gizzi
by William Corbett
48 pages/16 poems
Publisher: Kat Ran Press
ISBN: 9780979434235
Price: $20.00

About the Book:

In the afterword to this collection, William Corbett writes that Michael Gizzi (1949-2010)
"was one of those generous souls who served poets and poetry," and these sixteen poems
celebrate both his friend and friendship. Corbett recalls the people, places, and events
that make up a well-lived life, and the four peculiar and lovely drawings by Natalia
Afentoulidou are the perfect companion to these poems, ensuring the feeling of a celebration–
never a dirge.

About the Author:

William Corbett is a poet who lives in Boston's South End and is Director of Student Writing
Activities in MIT's Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies. He writes frequently on art,
directs the small press Pressed Wafer and is on the advisory board of Manhattan's CUE Art
Foundation. Among his books are the memoirs Furthering My Education and Philip Guston's Late
Work: A Memoir. He edited JUST THE THING: SELECTED LETTERS OF JAMES SCHUYLER
and THE LETTERS OF JAMES SCHUYLER TO FRANK O'HARA. His newest books of poetry
are ELEGIES FOR MICHAEL GIZZI (Kat Ran Press, 2012) and THE WHALEN POEM (Hanging
Loose Press, 2011).

About the Artist:

Natalia Afentoulidou earned a BFA from Athens School of Fine Arts in her native Greece, and
received an MFA in painting from Boston University. In Greece she exhibited drawings and
paintings in several group and solo shows, and she illustrated Greek editions of Leo
Tolstoy’s Three Hermits and The Power of Darkness, and Elizabeth Gaskell’s Ruth.

Advance Praise:

Good news for Michael Gizzi fans: Kat Ran Press has just published (in a regular, affordable edition)
Elegies for Michael Gizzi, sixteen poems written by William Corbett that celebrate both his friend
and friendship. The book looks beautiful, at 48 pages with four full-color drawings by Natalia
Afentoulidou. You can view sample spreads here. “Corbett recalls the people, places, and events that
make up a well-lived life, and the four peculiar and lovely drawings by Natalia Afentoulidou are the
perfect companion to these poems, ensuring the feeling of a celebration—never a dirge.”

A fine press run by bookmaker Michael Russem, Kat Ran traffics in rarities. They’ve got one copy left
of Haruki Murakami’s leather-bound Sleep, for instance (at $7,500), and can count clients that run from
the Grolier Club to Hanging Loose Press to Brooklyn Academy of Music. They’ve been in operation since
1994; view all their titles here.
– HARRIET STAFF

From the Book

March Glare
by William Corbett

Michael: I’ll believe
You’re dead when you
Don’t show up for
Trevor’s birthday dinner.
It’s March 26th this year
He’ll be sixty-six
We’ll argue as always
Over how many years
He’s come to Boston
To celebrate. Thirty-five?
He missed the year
His father died.
Called on the phone,
“My dog is dead,”
Broke down and passed
The phone to Billy.
His dad. Trevor meant
His dad had died.

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