Kate Buckley's poems have appeared in Bellingham Review, The Cafe Review, North American Review, Shenandoah, Slipstream and elsewhere. An MFA candidate at Spalding University, she is the author of A Wild Region (Moon Tide Press, 2008). and the new Follow Me Down (Tebot Bach, 2009). A two time Pushcart Prize nominee (2009 & 2010), her awards include a Gabeheart Prize and the North American Review's 2008 James Hearst Poetry Prize.

In the News: New Southerner announces the nomination of Kate's poem, "Honesty" (from her new collection, "Follow Me Down") for a 2010 Pushcart Prize.

Read a recent feature on Kate and her new book, "Follow Me Down," with excerpts of interviews with poets Molly Peacock and Ricki Mandeville.

Listen to a recent interview with Kate on "Accents – A Radio Show for Literature, Art and Culture," hosted by Katerina Stoykova-Klemer.

Watch Kate read her Pushcart Prize nominated poem, "Honesty," from Follow Me Down, at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center.

Follow Kate on Twitter.

Praise for Kate Buckley's second collection of poems, Follow Me Down:

"Vivid, passionate, pulsing with life in the face of loss and pain, these incantations bravely seek to void The Void. They are poems to conjure with."
— Charles Harper Webb

"15th century painter Cennini spoke of the art of 'unseen things hidden in the shadow of natural ones.' Like 'a sea turning in on itself' Kate Buckley's poems speak to this, moving together, folding and unfolding the echoes of a voice in place, a voice out of place, 'salt licking salt—/coming home.' Follow Me Down maps out the geography of longing where sometimes 'you walk the yellow fields,' sometimes 'the moon sets itself on fire,' lighting up the distances between the past and the future. Buckley's parenthetical considerations, her ache and intellect coincide in a sensuous, revelatory motioning toward that inspired sanctuary of who we are."
— Elena Karina Byrne

"She is making her mark on the landscape of contemporary American poetry."
— Molly Peacock


Watch Kate read "Aubade" from her new collection, Follow Me Down, at the Ruskin Art Club (12/13/09)

Watch Kate read "Fitzgerald's Wife" from her new collection, Follow Me Down, at the Ruskin Art Club (12/13/09)

Watch Kate read her Pushcart Prize nominated poem, "Honesty," from Follow Me Down, at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center (10/12/09)

Listen to Kate read from & discuss Follow Me Down on "Accents – A Radio Show for Literature, Art and Culture" (10/09/09)

A clip from Kate's reading from Follow Me Down at Laguna Beach Books (9/27/09)

Praise for Kate Buckley's 1st book of poems & paintings, A Wild Region:

"A Wild Region is a family history in verse as well as a lovely elegy for Buckley's grandmother set in a Kentucky that is both pastoral and industrial: 'I have ridden on horseback / under the harvest moon, gold and heavy' vs. 'the coughs that stained your linens black / no matter how many times you bleached them...' The elegies are especially moving: 'her wispy hair, fine as floss / cotton against the pale earth of her skull' and 'I cradle her, cradle her, and rock her home.' Pick up this book. (Buckley won this year's Hearst Poetry Prize.)"
— North American Review

"Kate Buckley's poems are dark prayers and lyrical ballads, infused with mystery and awe... And the stories these poems tell—finely crafted as the poems are—are stories that speak to all of us, accessible and clear for all their complicated depth, 'universal' precisely because they're so deeply personal, and so deeply felt. There is so much stunning language in this collection, so much accuracy and grace, and there are so many images that take my breath away... Kate Buckley shows us how the beautiful and the brutal can not only coexist alongside one another, but exist within one another. Hers is a necessary and welcome new voice."
— Cecilia Woloch

"Painting and poetry are two art forms that stand side by side and work well together. A Wild Region is a collection of oil paintings and poetry from prolific poet Kate Buckley, whose work has appeared in countless venues. Many of her poems are opposite full color art, adding a fresh dimension to her work. A Wild Region is a fine blend of artforms, highly recommended. "On Hearing Your News": My eyes lie flat in my skull,/darkened, bruised//lashes whip-stitched to swollen lids—/sleep has once again been elusive.//My organs weigh more/than they did the day before,/swollen with unhappiness,/gorged with regret:/tiny fists in my stomach pummeling/ the hanging ball of my heart."
— Midwest Book Review (Reviewer's Choice)

"A ribbon of Appalachia winds through Kate Buckley’s vigorous voice in her debut collection of poems, A Wild Region. It was my pleasure to choose her as the winner of the 2008 James Hearst Poetry Prize for the North American Review, and it is an equal pleasure to welcome this book of poems, crafted from the patterns of speech of the wild region Buckley loves and the wildness of its people, too."
— Molly Peacock

"Many of the poems recall the work of poet Andrew Hudgins, both for their subject matter and use of forms. Perhaps these rhythms are a kind of heritage of the song and music of the culture that feature heavily in their poetry. Like Hudgins, Buckley can convey the physical and emotional violence of characters without apology, presenting people as they were and laying bare their choices without too much explanation... W.H. Auden once said 'a poem is like a story . . . with all the boring parts left out.' Buckley certainly has many stories to tell... And she is a gifted storyteller... Perhaps, this is Buckley’s intent in many of her poems—to take the chaotic and random pieces and make them fit, make them record a life, like a handmade quilt. Buckley’s poems are as beautiful and well-crafted."
— The Adirondack Review

A clip from Kate's reading from A Wild Region at The Read at Moorpark College (8/19/09)

Watch Kate read the poem of occasion at the Laguna Beach Inaugural Gala (1/20/09)

Listen to Kate read from & discuss A Wild Region on NPR affiliate, WUKY's, Tonic: Arts & Music Magazine (5/21/08)