Poet/Musician, Heidi Blakeslee, Joins GAS Staff as a Book Reviewer

Heidi Blakeslee is a writer, musician, and artist currently living near Pittsburgh, Pa.  She's been publishing work since the early 2000's.  She got her start in poetry performance at the Erie Bookstore, in Erie, Pa. in 2004.   She came up alongside writers like Thasia Anne, Chuck Joy, Cee Williams, Berwyn Moore, and Greg Brown.   She has published extensively with Alien Buddha and in many online poetry blogs like "Winedrunk Sidewalk," "Nixes Mate," and "Live Nude Poems."  She has written a memoir, two novels, and three poetry books, the latest of which is "Neurotica" with cover artwork, "My mind at midnight," by Belinda Subraman.

Musically, Heidi started the project "Emocat2380," or just "Emocat" for short, in January of 2020.  The music started out as simply a means of relaxing and staying sane during the craziest era our country has lived in for many decades.  The music manifests itself with synths, soft tones, early Nintendo-like soundscapes, and surprising layers of instruments and drums.  Emocat's mission is to create music for cats and the people who appreciate them.

Heidi's plans for the future include continuing to work with Emocat, writing book reviews for GAS, and finishing that darn niggling novel that begs for closure.  

She lives with her six cats and her partner James Trevison, who is also an artist and saxophone player.

Heidi's book is available on HERE.

real men snuggle cats

our jet black panther-cat, Weenie Beans

has taken ownership

of james

his belly in particular

he loves jumping on it and sitting there

kneading it

as he comforts down into

his home sense

sometimes he lies there for an hour

james pets him and we watch tv

real men accept head boops graciously

with eyes closed

and smiling

this is true

Weenie is a very loving cat

he gives boops with abandon

james rewards him with treats to reinforce

the behavior

he loves james and james loves him

an innocent joy

jim's at work now

and Weenie is laying on my back kneading my butt

why? who knows

his nails scratch through my dress

it isn't entirely comfortable

but i let him stay

such is love