Isaac Murphy: I Dedicate This Ride

by Frank X. Walker

The captivating story of a record-setting nineteenth-century black jockey told in poetry. In this creative foray into persona poems, Walker immerses himself in the life of African American jockey Isaac Burns Murphy (1861–1896). The son of a slave, Murphy’s legendary career riveted the attention of the nation and established him as one of the greatest jockeys of all time. Walker’s poetry breathes life into the voices of Murphy and his family, the neglected history of African Americans in thoroughbred racing, and racial tensions in the post-Civil War South. Published in 2010 by Old Cove Press

Genres: Poetry, History

88 pages, Paperback

First published September 17, 2010

About the author

Multidisciplinary artist Frank X Walker is a native of Danville, KY, a graduate of the University of Kentucky, and completed an MFA in Writing at Spalding University in May 2003. He has lectured, conducted workshops, read poetry and exhibited at over 300 national conferences and universities including the Verbal Arts Centre in Derry, Northern Ireland; Santiago, Cuba; University of California at Berkeley; Notre Dame; Louisiana State University at Alexandria; University of Washington; Virginia Tech; Radford University; and Appalachian State University.
A founding member of the Affrilachian Poets, he is the editor of America! What's My Name? The "Other" Poets Unfurl the Flag (Wind Publications, 2007) and Eclipsing a Nappy New Millennium and the author of four poetry collections: When Winter Come: the Ascension of York (University Press of Kentucky, 2008); Black Box (Old Cove Press, 2005); Buffalo Dance: the Journey of York (University Press of Kentucky, 2003), winner of the 35th Annual Lillian Smith Book Award; and Affrilachia (Old Cove Press, 2000), a Kentucky Public Librarians' Choice Award nominee.
A Kentucky Arts Council Al Smith Fellowship recipient, Walker's poems have been converted into a stage production by the University of Kentucky Theatre department and widely anthologized in numerous collections; including The Appalachian Journal, Limestone, Roundtable, My Brothers Keeper, Spirit and Flame: An Anthology of Contemporary African American Poetry and Role Call: A Generational Anthology of Social and Political Black Literature and Art. He is a former contributing writer and columnist for Ace Weekly and the first Kentucky writer to be featured on NPR's This I Believe.
Other new work appeared recently in Mischief, Caprice & Other Poetic Strategies (Red Hen Press), Tobacco (Kentucky Writers Coalition), Kentucky Christmas (University Press of Kentucky), Cornbread Nation III, Kudzu, The Kentucky Anthology: Two Hundred Years of Writing in the Bluegrass (University Press of Kentucky) and the Louisville Review.
He has appeared on television in PBS's GED Connection Series, Writing: Getting Ideas on Paper, in In Performance At the Governor's Mansion and in Living the Story: The Civil Rights Movement in Kentucky. He contributed to Writing Our Stories: An Anti-Violence Creative Writing Program Curriculum Guide developed by the Alabama Writer's Forum and the Alabama Department of Youth Services. He co-produced a video documentary, Coal Black Voices: the History of the Affrilachian Poets, which received the 2002-2003 Jesse Stuart Award presented by the Kentucky School Media Association, and produced a documentary exploring the effects of 9.11 on the arts community, KY2NYC: Art/life & 9.11. His visual art is in the private collections of Spike Lee, Opal Palmer Adisa, Morris FX Jeff, and Bill and Camille Cosby.
Articles about Frank and the Affrilachian Poets can be seen in Kentucky Monthly and Arts Across Kentucky.
Walker has served as founder/Executive Director of the Bluegrass Black Arts Consortium, the Program Coordinator of the University of Kentucky's King Cultural Center and the Assistant Director of Purdue University's Black Cultural Center. The University of Kentucky awarded Walker an honorary Doctorate of Humanities in 2001 for his collective community work and artistic achievements. Transylvania University awarded Walker an honorary Doctor of Letters degree in 2002.
He is the recipient of the 2006 Thomas D. Clark Literary Award for Excellence, Actors Theatre's Keeper of the Chronicle Award and a 2005 Recipient of a $75,000 Lannan Literary Fellowship in Poetry.
He has held board positions for the Kentucky Humanities Council, Appalshop and the Kentucky Writers Coalition as well as a government appointment to Cabinet for Education, Arts & Humanities and the Committee on Gifted Education. He has served as vice president of the Kentucky Center for the Arts and the executive director of Kentucky's Governor's School for the Ar

Reviews

[Christina Carson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This awesome book of poetry captures the life and times of Issac Burns Murphy,
born son of a slave in April 16, 1861, near Frankfort, Kentucky. He was an amazing man. Murphy was a jockey, the first African-American jockey elected to horse racing’s Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, New York. He was considered the greatest jockey in American thoroughbred horse racing. And his story is told poetically through Frank X. Walker's powerful poems written in his honor. It is an uncommon way to write a biography, for that is how it reads, but being poetry,it dispenses with the pages and pages of life's details and stabs into the heart of the matter in each poem Walker offers. In 'Murphy's Secret,' the jockey tells all:
When folks find out I'm him
they always want to know what I say to'em.
If they be white I tell 'em I say

'Run an run quick
or they gonna feed you to the niggers.'
An they usually laugh an leave me be.

If they black Ii tell 'em the truth.
I tell'em how I cup my hand to the horse's ear
how I let it catch some wind so they remember
what it sound like to run full out,
to know you not just a field hand or a work horse
but beautiful and strong and smart....

Even if you've never considered yourself a poetry buff, you don't want to miss this book. It's gritty, witty and wise, a perfect tribute to an extraordinary man.

[Mary T · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this poetry collection told from different perspectives connected to Isaac Murphy, "America's most celebrated black jockey." My favorites were "The Good Book," "Horseshoes," "Empty Nest," "Pound for Pound," and "Here Lies..." The voice and word choice were superb, and I feel like I know Isaac Murphy better as a result.

Here's an excerpt from Pound for Pound (Isaac Murphy)
Boy riders don't weigh nothin but air.
But once they start eating the chicken 'n' dumplings
of marriage, they start to get meat on they bones.

Lucy was never as good a cook as Mamma,
but even the smell of her biscuits put extra pounds
on me. When they raised the riding weight to 118,
it gave me a few more years in the saddle.


and this excerpt from On the Way to Pasture (Isaac Murphy)
My body's well wasn't nearly as full as it used to be.
And some of the folks that used to stand in line
for a cool drink of me now lined up to spit.


And perhaps my favorite...
Keeper of the Flame (Lucy Murphy)
When I first met Isaac
I didn't know a gelding from a broodmare,
but he loved horses so much
I learned to love them too.

I also learned that no matter where a man
gets it, his confidence is a lot like a fire
that has to be tended, stoked and relit
if it ever goes out.

Men work hard to become the legends
they create. But as hard as roosters work
to lift that sun every day, it's hens
that give them something to crow about.

[Chelsie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a horse racing nerd and have visited Isaac Burns Murphy’s grace at the Kentucky Horse Park multiple times, so this book immediately appealed to me. I really enjoy the way he creates voices not only for Isaac but also for the people closest to him to tell this story. For me, this is one to be enjoyed as a whole to get the full narrative rather than picking and choosing favorite poems, but I loved the last stanza of “God’s House” in particular: “Any horse or lover of horses who dies/ and moves on to God’s house/ would end up back here in Kentucky.” That’s just about how I feel about my beautiful state.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading Frank X. Walker's "Isaac Murphy: I Dedicate This Ride". The poems are easy to read and fascinating. I loved learning about a person whom I never would've heard of otherwise. And in such a unique manner. The poems are very accessible. I strongly recommend this to everyone.

[Krista · Rating 5 out of 5]

I savor every single morsel that Frank X Walker has published and this book is no less than perfect in my humble opinion.