Black Cat Press
Black Cat Press

Black Cat Press (BCP) was founded, in 2004, by Cathy Drinkwater Better (Walker) and her husband
Doug Walker. BCP is a small-press publisher and producer of limited-edition volumes of poetry; Better acts
as editor/publisher, co-designer, and project manager. To date BCP has produced high-quality soft-cover
editions of haiku, tanka, sijo, and senryu for the Tanka Society of America; as well as poets Kirsty Karkow
(Maine, USA), Michael McClintock (California, USA), and Jeanne Emrich (Minnesota, USA).

BCP’s first project, in 2004, was a chapbook set, cat and human, written by Cathy Drinkwater Better and
feline poet Raven Spirit Walker.

Wrote the reviewer in Modern Haiku (USA):

“A matched set of mini-chapbooks, the first by well-known haiku poet Cathy Drinkwater Better and the
second by her less-well-known but deserving cat, translated by Better from the felinese. Six poems in each
mini. One by each poet:

mew
mmmmm—mmmm!—
purrrrrrrr

the fire
this soft afghan and then—ah!—
scratched beneath the chin
Raven Spirit Walker

lighting the fire
that spot of warmth
where the cat just was
Cathy Drinkwater Better


Wrote Hermitage (Romania) reviewer on to find the moon, the TSA 2004 Members’ Anthology:

“…The range of approaches structured around this common theme gives the collection the feeling of a
cohesive book, and that accomplishment must be credited to the editor, Cathy Drinkwater Better, for
selecting the poems. As she states in the Introduction, ‘Tanka can be a micro-autobiography, giving the
reader a momentary glimpse into the poet’s soul. It is like a pebble thrown into a still lake: an instant of
impact, followed by ever-widening ripples of understanding and human connection.’ These poems definitely
make ripples and they offer multiple opportunities for a greater understanding of our human condition.”
BLACK CAT PRESS Publications

to find the moon: The Tanka Society of America 2004 Members’ Anthology. Edited by Cathy Drinkwater Better. Black
Cat Press, Eldersburg, MD. November, 2004.

something like a sigh: The Tanka Society of America 2005 Members’ Anthology. Guest Editor, Jeanne Emrich. Editor in
Chief, Cathy Drinkwater Better. Black Cat Press, Eldersburg, MD. ISBN 0-9766407-1-6. November 2005.

water poems: haiku, tanka, and sijo, by Kirsty Karkow (Waldoboro, ME). Edited by Cathy Drinkwater Better. Black
Cat Press, Eldersburg, MD. ISBN 0-9766407-0-8. April, 2005.

Letters in Time: Sixty Short Poems, by Michael McClintock; published by Hermitage West, South Pasadena, CA.
Produced by Black Cat Press, Eldersburg, MD. July 2005.

a far town view: Haiku Poets of Central Maryland: Members Compilation No. 1. Edited by Elizabeth Fanto and Cathy
Drinkwater Better. Produced by Black Cat Press, Eldersburg, MD. ISBN 0-9766407-3-2. October 2006.

The Pleiades at Dawn: A Tanka Collection, by Jeanne Emrich. Published by Lone Egret Press, Edina, MN. Produced by
Black Cat Press, Eldersburg, MD. ISBN 0-9766407-2-4. January 2007.

Gathering Peace, by Carol Purington. Published by Winfred Press, Colrain, MA. Produced by Black Cat Press,
Eldersburg, MD. ISBN 0-9766407-4-0. May 2007.

shorelines: haiku, haibun, and tanka, by Kirsty Karkow. Edited by Cathy Drinkwater Better. Black Cat Press,
Eldersburg, MD. ISBN 0-9766407-5-9. June 2007.