Amherstburg poet releasing book for Poetry Month

Kathryn MacDonald has written a new book of poetry entitled “The Blue Gate.”

National Poetry Month is coming up in April and an Amherstburg poet is releasing a new book just in time for it.

“The Blue Gate” is coming out next month with the book launch being April 26. Kathryn MacDonald wrote the poems featured in the upcoming release and said the book explores the “surprise of love, the shock of loss and challenges boundaries and liminal spaces.” 

It is being released by Frontenac House Poetry.

“It’s a narrative. It’s a story about love,” MacDonald told the RTT.

There is emotion and imagery inside the book, she said, and the poetry is based out of her experiences starting when she first lived in eastern Ontario, prior to moving to Amherstburg.

MacDonald called it “a memoir” and pointed out she was invited to go to Kenya with friends shortly after her husband passed away. Her friends ended up not being able to go, but MacDonald still went and met a guide who became a friend while in the African country.

They opened their hearts to one another and she learned there are different worlds, including the one she was grieving in.

“It’s a story about life,” she said of the new poetry book.

The story “The Blue Gate” was once written in prose but MacDonald switched to poetry.

“Prose couldn’t handle the realism,” she said. “Poetry is my first love. Poetry is very important to me.”

National Poetry Month is “something to look forward to,” she added, and that she is “very, very excited to see the new releases.”

MacDonald will team up with local author Marty Gervais for the book launch, which will be from 2-4 p.m. at River Bookshop. MacDonald will be reading from “The Blue Gate” while Gervais will be reading from his new book. MacDonald is also releasing another new book entitled “Wayside: A Small boat, A Vacant Lot, A Man.”

Amherstburg poet releasing book for Poetry Month

By Ron Giofu