PhillySound: new poetry

I'm stunned by kari's death. There are many things people who knew kari more than I did can comment on her life. I can say that I will never forget the last time I saw her after reading at Robin's Books. I will never forget reading her latest book Obedience in one sitting & being set on fire as I read it aloud to myself. And I will never forget that kari edwards was a consummate badass. She was a fighter who challenged, who questioned & engaged whoever, whenever if she thought she was on the side of the angels. No poet handled a heckler like I saw her do it back in '04 when she read at La Tazza. She shamed a NeoCon right out of the bar by just being unabashed, unafraid kari edwards. She was tough & she was sweet. In a craft of careerists who jockey for jobs, I always felt good kari was out there operating in ways that we all should be doing anyway- being opinionated, asking the right questions & fighting for answers that could make this seemingly doomed world a better place.

And I remember hugging her goodbye at the Chinatown bus station, never for a second thinking that it was really goodbye forever. I guess this really is goodbye, kind of. I'm in a city of ghosts & I feel her all around me.

- Frank Sherlock