Kate Gough
Writer, Poet, Artist, Nomad, Weirdo
I’m a Californian writer living in beautiful Wales, and I’m looking to publish my first novel. Ive recently had 3 poems published in Kith Review. My poems Moon and Evergreen can be found in Wild Roof Journal, a number of my poems can be found in Kith Review, and conservation of matter was published in Peregrine Volume XXXVI. My flash fiction piece ‘Bread Crumbs’ (a follow-up to Hansel & Gretel with a twist) was published in Flash Fiction Magazine. I have self-published a collection of nature poems called :idiolalia (see below), read and performed at slam events, and had my work featured in local galleries and a variety of pop-up and regular events over the years.
I’ve been writing since I was small. Fantasy was and still is my first love, followed later by a ravening appetite for poetry, and rounded off by a natural love of what I’ve recently discovered is called the lyrical essay. My mind is a wailing wall of homeless stories and characters, all multiplying at a terrifying speed.
“Mary Kathryn Gough’s poetry revels like that of e.e. cummings, dances like that of Mary Oliver, and prays like that of Gerard Manley Hopkins. But the shimmer and energy between each word is hers alone.”
~ Kathleen Popa, Author of
To Dance In the Desert and
The Feast of Saint Bertie
~poet~
I’d read almost no poetry at all (aside from the Psalms) when I began writing as a child, and I found the expression to be a little like that sneaky square of toilet paper that sticks to the heel of your shoe when you leave the bathroom at school. I didn’t really realize what I was doing, but I wanted to create and communicate such masses of things — writing was the only medium that consistently and successfully drew me in. There was a captivating rhythm – a flow in it, like water. No other expression became conveyance like that.
I decided to nurture my own style while demanding the absolute best I could give from myself at any time. I knew that somewhere, somehow, I would be able to grasp the sense I needed of a working level of quality that felt complete. I revised and reviewed and rewrote and wrote anew. Receipts, paper towels, coffee shop napkins, bits of schedules and even books have born the brunt of my imagination and the continual tough love needed in the creation of my own language.
I hope it speaks to you.
[BOOK~WORM]
~*~
I gobble books.
I tend to critique and rewrite them between sittings as well.
They’re a little like teddy bears… they get worn and well-loved. Some of them might even be missing eyes.
In fact my favorite copies of the best books for my soul no longer have a cover. They have very handy, well-themed bookmarks… 😉
Ah, the desecration of true love.
(PHILOSOPHER)
I have a degree in Philosophy from Calvin College and adore puzzling out the universe. I’m always up on my toes, reaching for the next question and internalising everything I see, read, hear, or experience, ready to apply where appropriate.
Philosophical exploration suits the joining of my mind and heart and companions me in the thoughtful, Heideggerian way I desire to be living of my life as art. I hope to contribute something to others’ lives through the difficult and satisfying work I have put into this discipline.
ARTIST&
I dream in art, dogged by odd visions that I have to go to great lengths (and be very patient) to learn how to achieve.
I like every sort of medium – digital and physical – in fact the more I am able to incorporate into a piece while keeping it composed, the happier I am! It’s all a goodly flowing mess, but hey… Wild patience and fearless diligence, yes?
Idiolalia 