'Catalina Eddy,' poetry book by the late Lorine Parks, gets second edition

The late Lorine Parks’ most popular book of poetry, “Catalina Eddy”, has received a beautiful second edition publication by poet Frank Kearns’ small Downey based, Los Nietos Press.

“Catalina Eddy” (2016) was out of print when Kearns suggested publishing a new edition. Parks, ever the lover of language, saw this as an opportunity to make the poems even better, and made minor changes here and there. Kearns himself took the initiative to create a beautiful new cover.

This “Catalina Eddy” was proofed and being printed when Parks passed away unexpectedly at 92, one week shy of her 93 birthday in February, 2024.

Lorine was a bit of a renaissance woman, a prolific writer, and had a boundless imagination. She contributed greatly to the arts and culture of Downey. In addition to her civic contributions, she was on the Board of the Downey Symphony. Her passion was poetry. She initiated and hosted monthly poetry readings of local and significant Los Angeles poets for the Downey Arts Coalition’s “Poetry Matters” for over five years. She contributed a weekly “Poetry Matters” column in the Downey Patriot, and became an award winning society columnist there. The community was stunned by her passing.

Lorine’s family welcomed the posthumous edition as a tribute to her life and art. Los Nietos Press published it in late April, 2024, and it is available on Amazon.

A Catalina eddy is a regular weather phenomenon off our coast. KNBC LA Weatherman Fritz Coleman said he tried everyday to find new ways to describe our odd weather patterns. “Try as I do…I can’t get close to Lorine’s beautiful work!”

Poet David St. John said, “”Catalina Eddy” is one of the most surprising and hilarious poetic romps I have ever read. Weather is “The Family business” of these meteorological guys and dolls, molls and mobsters, of whom Eddy is one of a charming and somewhat disreputable array of noirish figures. The characters are utterly and universally delightful, and both the romantic and family relationships of these cocky weather systems and their attendant “effects” make for some of the wittiest sagas I know.”

Lorine created the character of Eddy as a lovable but petty small time con man compared with some of the other members of The Family.

“name’s Catalina Eddy

I’m the new guy in town

things got sticky

with the Mob up in Frisco

so I blew the scene

now I need to simmer down”

“I’m hanging ten in Venice

depressed and glum

if you see this chick of mine

June Gloom’s her moniker

tell her to expect the worst

Mae Grey never got here

without that dame’s cloud cover

we are toast”

Later… In the ballroom of the Casino on Catalina

“Eddy weaves his way through the party

restless persistent

he wants to leave

it’s midnight and he’s looking for Mae

He ignores June Gloom

she taps her stiletto heels on the Art Deco bar

they puncture the tonic bubbles

easy as a snap she stops before Eddy can see her

Eddy swerves through the crowd

his aftershave leaves a disturbing mist

without Mae Gray Eddy is broke

when it comes to love”

Along the way we are introduced to Big Gustavo, Great Aunt Camille, Ernesto, Aunt Polar Flo, No name hurricane, the Santa Anas, El Niño, the Pineapple Express, California Bight, and more.

In her Notes On The Poems, Lorine writes, “In the end, Eddy is a small drizzle, compared to the killer cyclones in The Family, where prowess is measured in body count and fan mail.”