Affrilachia: Poems by Frank X Walker

by Frank X. Walker

A milestone book of poetry at the intersection of Appalachian and African American literature. In this pathbreaking debut collection, poet Frank X Walker tells the story of growing up young, Black, artistic, and male in one of America’s most misunderstood geographical regions. As a proud Kentucky native, Walker created the word “Affrilachia” to render visible the unique intersectional experience of African Americans living in the rural and Appalachian South. Since its publication in 2000, Affrilachia has seen wide classroom use, and is recognized as one of the foundational works of the Affrilachian Poets, a community of writers offering new ways to think about diversity in the Appalachian region and beyond. Published in 2000 by Old Cove Press

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction, Race, African American, School, Politics, Social Issues

112 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2000

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

[Dianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to admit, I do not read much poetry. Frank X Walker came to my attention after being invited to our local museum's ARTalks event. Walker's poems are about community and family, meditative, and full of truth. This book of poetry is for everyone...take the time to look up names...educate yourself. Lots of highlighted lines but my favorite poem may be "Healer".

[Gabby Tiesma · Rating 5 out of 5]

there are few stories that allow me to picture myself there.
to relate with my heart and my face. to claim my heritage and hold on to my home.
it’s just part of being mixed up.
part of being colorful.
I can’t relate to all of Frank’s poem, but they’ve given me more words than most.
if you enjoy poetry and story,
take a look at the poet who says,
“indeed
some of the bluegrass
is black”

[MJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok I only liked 2 poems in this book

[Alador Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

some of the bluegrass is black !!

I love that, true to his intention with the Affrilachian Poets org as a whole, Walker exposes the lesser-associated Blackness (& general non-white intersectionality) of Appalachia—it NEEDS to be exposed. Walker's style isn't my favorite, but there are more than enough places in his poetry I can point to with heavy admiration. I love his wordplay and that he pulls so often from his own life. I didn't expect how often he talked about mixed families & mixed identity, but it fits perfectly and resonates with me personally. The first half hit harder for me, but maybe that's due to me reading the second half in an afternoon. Turn Me Loose is still my favorite of his yet (mind that I've only read these two), but Affrilachia is an undoubtedly essential parting of the southern Kentucky grass so often squinted at from a distance as monochromatically blue.

[Chloe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love poems about Kentucky!! This collection in particular spoke true to a heart able to love his community and want so much better for all involved. Walker used language so effectively, as well as some phonetic spelling which dressed the poem in the rhythm and richness of a southern drawl. Many poems felt like he was in the room with me, gently chastising the collective memory or telling a story I needed to carry with me.

It was the depth of person poured in that stood out more than anything. I greatly enjoyed and I will now hope to spot him around Danville by some poetic magic someday soon.

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

The style is somewhere in between Hughes and cummings. Walker covers a wide range of topics, but it hits me most when he is talking about his parents and elders. He hits something there.

[Stephanie Dargusch Borders · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the range and sense of place of this collection.

[Melody · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a powerful collection of poems from a writer of color who grew up in Appalachia.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite genre, and some of these poems were absolute 🔥

[Alandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading Frank X Walker’s Affrilachia gave me a new perspective on one of the many people-groups of Appalachia. Walker combines his background, views, and beliefs with his unique style of poetry with imagination and wordplay to present a thought-provoking, powerfully quiet mirage of scenes and stories highlighting blacks in Appalachia.

The writing style is striking, not lessened by the lack of punctuation such as periods. Walker makes this work to his advantage, as in some cases a thought, stanza, or line appears to have a double meaning depending on where you, the reader, creates a pause.

I feel that different meanings are a large theme of this collection. The meanings of some poems were much more evident than others, at least to me; “Statues of Liberty” had a clear tribute and meaning, whereas poems like “Neopolitan” are much more open to interpretation.

One thing I love about this book is the range of circumstances Walker covers. From the roles of women (“Matriarch,” “Statues of Liberty”), to so-called interracial dating (“Cease Fire,” a personal favorite), to religion (“Fireproof,” “Amazin’ Grace”), to an overall view of the birth and nature of violence (“Death by Basketball,” “Violins or Violen…ce”), to the Civil Rights Movement (“Million Man March”), to drugs (“Rock Star”), it is all a healthy dose of truths from someone who obviously ‘knows what they’re talkin’ ‘bout.’

“Death by Basketball’s” so starkly and wonderfully shown themes of education, fame, and commercialism are ones that I feel are especially prevalent in today’s culture. It’s important to remember that violence always has a root, and it’s not just found in the ghettos and projects of places like New York City, but it’s in Appalachia as well.

The book begins and ends poignantly with a duo of poems, “Clifton I” and “Clifton II,” that particularly struck me. In my mind, “Clifton I” is a vignette of father and son, the latter listening to stories of the family’s past. They soak in, but the son is wondering if they matter. Do they apply to his current situation? His current problems? Perhaps the rest of the poems in the book are meant to represent and show why the stories of happenings matter and how they affect people.

“Clifton II,” I imagined, was written from the point-of-view of this same son, now grown, now knowing that all the stories, the backgrounds, the histories of family do matter, and wanting to pass them on. There’s a hint of despair in his tone, as he’s not sure any of the youth of the family will care about them. Yet through it, he is showing the readers that they are certainly things to care about. I related to “Clifton II” in many ways, and was comforted knowing that other people are concerned about preserving family histories as well.

From start to finish, Walker’s words are sympathetic, revealing, and challenging. One of my favorite thoughts presented is from the poem “Stop Looking and Listen,” showing we are all the same, we all live here, we are all community; ‘acknowledge your europe, claim your cherokee, embrace your africa, all of them, all at once…’ (My paraphrase.)

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant, insightful and heart revealing writing from Kentucky's Poet Laureate, Frank X Walker. His poetry goes straight to the heart; sometimes via sweet memory's way and other times taking us back into ugly history - every day history - with it's darkness and struggles. These events, our collected history, have molded our souls, ourselves. We cannot afford to allow this self, our self, to become fixed, stagnant, or fixated. The hatred endured and the love received must call us to the continuous labor, sometimes hard labor, of creating self into a better being - one with a heart that chooses to expand - a creation of love, compassion, acceptance and hope.

[Cyndi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This title caught my eye in the library. Since the primary elections, I had been thinking and wondering about race and the racial divide in Appalachia. Walker's rich voice left me wanting to read more of his stuff, and to seek out similar voices. Good poetry.

[Jessica Dunker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sept. 9, 2017

As an overall surprise to my expectations, Frank X. Walker’s “Affrilachia” has certainly expanded my perspective on modern black poetry and the issues surrounding the African-American race.

In a summary of the whole of Walker’s collections, “We planted ourselves in the soil / of this new world....seeds that produced / the harlem renaissance / anti-lynching campaigns / and civil rights movements” (“The Harvest,” 23-24, 30-33) shows the roots of the African-American race in the United States and how they have grown and thrived. In “The Harvest,” Walker refers back to African-American root, beginning with the African culture and tracing it across two continents to where the race stands today, not as slaves but as a freed people continuously working towards a better future.

To begin in a nation predominantly white, Walker places whites and white values, though Walker properly refers to them as “western” or “European,” as an important and nearly sympathetic role in a portion of Walker’s poetry. In “Amazin’ Grace,” Walker speaks of the guilt, regret, and repentance a white man seeks against the sins he has played as “a willing participant” against the African race (“Amazin’ Grace,” 37) while there is an emphasis on the impact in saying, “This black fingerprint / that dis-colors us / basde on western standards / designed to ignore / cultural differences” (“CP Time,” 13-17).

Though Walker does not exclude a single party from his poetry, as black men, black women, and black youth are all defining characters in his efforts to reveal the masked struggles a race faces every day. Not only does he speak about the internal issues African-Americans have undergone and are undergoing, but in some poems, he places fellow African-Americans as an opponent to the growth of the race, such as in “Taking the Stares,” saying, “Then a brother I pass on the street / yells / ‘sold out Uncle Tom ass nigga’ / at me / with a sneer / with his eyes / as he recognizes / his distaste for my image” (24-31).

By covering the pervading oppression in modern day society, Walker aims to enlighten his audience of the black perspective. Though Walker’s expression of general commonalities is not limited to color, as seen in the tension of the domestic sphere depicted in “Wishbone” or the struggles of homosexuals shown in “Hummingbird.” Walker demands attention by directing the issue to the readers, saying, “Now somebody you know / is dead / from AIDS / at thirty-seven,” reiterating the point that mortality is not excluded by any means (“Hummingbird,” 32-35). These issues reflect just a few of the infinite similarities all of humanity shares.

To represent his own struggles as a black poet born and raised in Appalachia, Walker places a few notably autobiographical poems in his works, such as “Red-Handed” and “Poetry Moments.” Walker says, “[These hands] have always been / too big and loud / and now they’ve taken to / writing poems / and twisting my arm/ to read them / aloud” (“Red-Handed,” 54-60). These narratives of himself capture his personal struggles of a black poet forging his way in a region not commonly experienced with black poets.

Not only does Walker merit the praise an activist deserves, but “Affrilachia” needs to become more widespread among the masses to ensure the representation of a voice that still finds itself overlooked on both sides of the color line.

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frank X Walker’s Affrilachia gives readers an insight of growing up in the Appalachian region of the United States as an African American and the struggles Walker’s poetic narrator must face from economic and racial discrimination.
One of the striking formats in Walker’s poetry is the minimal use of punctuation, making the poems feel as if they connect into one overarching story about the struggles and triumphs the community had to face . Through this overarching narrative Walker creates, readers are treated to an entire lifetime of issues, beginning with a poem from a child’s view and ending with an adult point of view with the poems “Clifton I” and “Clifton II,” with an interesting perspective of poetic form in which the poems tell a tale of the same person from different viewpoints.
A personal favorite of mine from the volume is “Wishbone.” The poem is one of the first in the volume, and it shows the child’s perspective of a relationship’s falling apart. The poem is wrought with themes of relationship dynamics and abuse. While the narrator of this poem knows the issues tearing his parents apart are horrible, and the poem reads with abusive and uncaring language (“he never looked back / at the puddle of woman / he had snatched”); the narrator understands only that his life as he knows it is going to change. The title leads readers to believe the poem itself is in the perspective of a child, using the tradition of snapping a wishbone during the holidays to talk about the snapping of the parents’ relationship towards one another.
The language of violence in the community of Affrilachia is strong, and it carries on through the narrator’s life in the poems. Later in the text, readers are given the poem “Violins or Violen….ce.” Clearly the reader is older, most likely a young adult now, and we as readers find out that the violence that is often present in communities like the one present in Affrilachia becomes a novelty that sells music. The poem juxtaposes the idea of knowing violence exists in the community through pop culture and the lack of help or relief the community receives to stop the present violence that occurs. This poem talks with an air of unwanted truth, much like the music that is referenced does, and calls out the discrimination that has occurred since the beginning of the creation of the community.
The final poem, “Clifton II,” wonderfully wraps Walker’s volume up. “Clifton II” is a poem clearly from the point of view of an older narrator and connects with the first poem. It has a tone of reflection, one that moves the reader to think upon the rest of the poems with the narrator, and the impact of the culture of Affrilachia has had on the narrator. It shows the need to preserve the histories of the culture, both the good and the bad, and shows and appreciation for growing up in such a community.
Walker write with a sympathetic tone and conveys harsh truths in a way that is sometimes hard to swallow but is needed. He weaves a narrative in such a direct fashion that is captivates the readers with ease, and shows the impact one community has on all communities, and the need for the preservation of all histories.

[Emma O · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frank X. Walker’s book of poems, Affrilachia, presents readers with some of the sincerest and groundbreaking views of what it means to be an African-American in the Appalachian region. Frank X. Walker coined the term/word, Affrilachia, so that those who were once viewed as invisible could be valid and discerned. Without this important word and this important book, we would not have such an amazing, beautiful, and sometimes utterly tragic, view of black life in Appalachia. Frank X. Walker’s words resonate with a multicultural and diverse audience and provides thought-provoking stories and lessons. In the poem, Statues of Liberty, Walker presents a speaker who faces and discusses problems with feminism, racial division, and gender inequality.
“they birthed civil and human rights
gave the women’s movement
legs
sacrificed their then
to pave their way for a NOW.” (lines 58-62)
------------------------------------
“we
are their monuments
but they
are our statues of liberty.” (67-70)

This poem, Statues of Liberty, was one of my favorites. Walker creates a speaker who takes on a specific journey of understanding and appreciating the hardships of what it means/what it meant to be a woman, especially a black woman in a time of supposed women empowerment and liberation. The feminism movement that was happening, only really related to white women – not to everyone, like it should have. Walker manages to capture the troubles and uphill battles black women faced in a world of white feminism and freedom. This poem is one of the many in the book that reflects and explains something that may not be so easy to understand.
In the poem, Affrilachia, Walker presents us with a speaker who expresses the difficulties in growing up in the Appalachian region. Being “colored,” made life exponentially harder. Normal life was filled with hate and exclusion. The poem suggests that: if people who have it easier than most, think that life is hard, just imagine being a black poet in an area that is penetrated by racism, hate, and division. This is one those poems in the book that helps to really fulfill and achieve Walker’s main ideas. I enjoyed this poem a lot.
“if you think
makin’ ‘shine from corn
is as hard as kentucky coal
imagine being
an Affrilachian
poet.” (38-42)
Frank X. Walker’s Affrilachia accomplishes by feeling like a very personal and warm collection of poems from the author, but it is also a very titillating and enlightening experience for the reader. Affrilachia presents an incredibly fresh view into diversity in Appalachia and a wonderful depiction of what it takes and it what means to live, learn, and grow in a community such as the Appalachian region. Walker creates an effortless and honest journey in black experience and culture in Affrilachia – that no one should miss out on reading.

[Colin Cox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frank X Walker's Affrilachia is a warm, subtle, and affectionate portrait of American Americans in the southern United States, specifically, the Appalachia region. The poem that shares a name with the collection itself, "Affrilachia," clarifies the purpose of Walker's portmanteau, Affrilachia. He writes:

that being 'colored' and all
is generally lost
somewhere between
the dukes of hazzard
and the beverly hillbillies (32-36)

By referencing two popular television programs featuring Appalachian characters, Walker highlights how white Appalachia seems to the world outside of it. At the time, shows existed with black characters and predominately black casts, The Jeffersons and Sanford and Son, but the settings for both shows were in larger, metropolitan areas outside of Appalachia (New York and Los Angeles). Furthermore, Walker's point emphasizes how Blackness, whether it's the presence of a people or a culture, seems counterintuitive to Appalachia. But what Affrilachia attempts to show, and in some cases uncover, is the gap in our collective understanding of Appalachia, and what exists and lives in that gap are Black Appalachians or Affrilachians. While Walker's distinction between Appalachian and Affrilachian may seem like nothing more than a linguistic distinction, it is not. The creation of Affrilachian does the work of claiming a place. The word "lost" in the passage above matters because, according to Walker, being African American in Appalachia, being in effect Affrilachian, comes with having loss as a constitutive element to one's identity.

But part of Walker's larger project is to find or discover these lost aspects and elements of Affrilachia, and this is where I would want Walker to articulate whether or not Appalachia, and by extension Affrilachia, is more an idea than a place. People who write about Appalachia do so with a clear and strict sense of where this region exists geographically (this sliver of land that stretches from southern New York to Georgia and Alabama). What does it mean, for example, to be peripheral, to be peripherally Affrilachian? Could Affrilachia come to signify not just what was lost and subsequently found, but what was kept along the margins, what was and continues to be peripheral? These questions matter because there is something quite radical about Affrilachia as an idea. On a theoretical level, Affrilachia has this radical dimension to it in the same way that naming anything that is lost, excluded, unseen, or dispossessed has distinctly racial contours.

[Kendra Cartert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Expressions of African-American experiences tend to be limited to urban perspectives as seen in Nikki Grime’s Bronx Serenade or the hip-hop and rap lyrics that dominate popular culture. Frank X. Walker’s collection of poetry, Affrilachia, offers an interesting perspective.

In Walker’s poems “Wishbone,” “Statues of Liberty,” and “Matriarch,” he brings to light families torn apart by failed relationships. Walker goes on to show the negative impact this has on the children involved in these broken families in “Violins or Violen…ce.” He states “these children /claim their manhood early / because they might not be here / when it comes // they raise hell / ‘cause nobody raised them” (99-104). Walker continues in this poem with a call to action to be the solution to these reoccurring issues in Affrilachian culture: “we can just give up / and burn it all down / we can let these children / our children / all children / drown in their own blood / or we can be / solutions” (Violins or Violen…ce,” 143-150). Walker contends in “Rock Star,” “Crooked Afro,” “Death by Basketball,” and “Hummingbird” that drug abuse, violent crimes, Hoop Dreams, and AIDS are universal challenges.

With his poem “Cease Fire,” Walker tackles the issue of biracial children and how old stereotypes and prejudices creep into families creating a “domestic race war” where cease fires have to be negotiated between families of different races (28). Walker gives voice to the challenges when races come together through shared children. In “Sara Yevo,” Walker is challenged by a Bosnian refugee who reacts to his title Affrilachia with “‘I do not like that word! / I do not like anything that separates / people / by region / or culture or class’” (6-10). Walker stays true to his expression. He remains silent in his reaction to the girl but expresses through poetry how Affrilachia “was not intended to take lives / not intended to destroy families / or divide communities / that it existed to make visible / to create a sense of place / that had not existed” (33-38). Walker does give the reader a sense of place that is Affrilachia, and it is a place worth visiting through his poetry.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book at Goodwill the other day because Frank X. Walker is from my town and I was interested to check out his poetry, being someone who is always mentioned in my little part of Kentucky. I very much enjoyed several of the poems in this book like (some I feel like particularly mentioning) “Wishbone”, “Statues Of Liberty”, “Rock Star”, “Matriarch”, “The Harvest”, “Fire Proof”, “Amazin’ Grace”, “A Wake”, and “Kentucke”. I thought Walker wrote very interesting poems about race and specifically experiencing what he has in this state. I really like parts of this book based off the fact that they were of a place I know so well. Towards the end of the book, I did feel like some of the poems were not as strong as the ones in the beginning. I particularly wasn’t a fan of some of the ones at the end that were just dedicated to a bunch of people because they just felt very rushed and sort of for those people only, like inside jokes, not for the audience of this book. The final poem, “Clifton II”, made me particularly very sad for some reason. Maybe because the book was over or the poem itself? I realize that last comment was a bit odd, but whatever. I wanted to add it anyway. I recommend this book if you are just looking for something new to read from someone you haven’t yet read or heard of? Even if you aren’t from my neck of the woods, I think anyone can enjoy this book obviously and the perspective Walker has on the world.

[Jean Gill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw Frank X. Walker at a writers’ panel discussion at Maryville College. The moderator was Richard Powers who made rather too much of the neologism “Affrilachia” which is the title of this collection of poetry. Walker was modest, intelligent, and engaging, so I bought his book.
It’s wonderful— everything that you would want— original and yet heartfelt. Walker loves deeply but sees clearly. I miss the polish of poetics. These are nearly prose poems with a sophomoric line structure. Having said that, I read aloud “A Wake” with tears. I have been heartbroken in just this way. Also especially notable is “Violins and Violen…ce” which is a testament to a teacher’s love for the lost children who fall into our care. This is great poetry with a fine colloquial voice. By the time I finished the collection, I was absolutely exhausted emotionally and a new fan of the poet’s. Buy it; read it.

[Asher Insko · Rating 5 out of 5]

When my friend gifted me this book, I had no idea what I was in for. So far, I'm glad I didn't. This book is a fantastic piece of literature. I never thought that writing about these topics in poetry could work. Yet, Frank X Walker showed us why he's one of the best Affrilachian poets out there. This book made me sit down to take notes while inspiring me to write along the same line. I would recommend it for anyone who like poetry.

[Sandra Pyeatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This slender book of the author’s selected poems provided a window to an African American man’s experiences and views in rural Appalachia, a very valuable perspective for this white woman transplanted to Asheville. I enjoyed his poetic voice that crystallized his ideas and stories creatively. I found plenty of mirrors to my own experiences and feelings.

[Amy Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are wonderful, evocative poems. I think every one of them gave me food for thought, taught me about people and lives and ideas I didn’t yet know about, but there was also something familiar to me about so many because they reflected life in Kentucky (even if many of the communities were places I haven’t been).

[Jessie Peare · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely beautiful collection of poetry. I read this book for a Diverse Voices in English Studies class I was taking and I have read other works of his in previous courses with the same professor. Walker masterfully creates a universal yet unique perspective of life in the Appalachian region. I could not recommend this more.

[The Voracious Bibliophile · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am grateful that this book exists.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely stunning poetry. Cuts clean to the bone. Spare in words, but the words are luscious and full.

[Jiv Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

a book about Appalachia And Frank X Walker

[Brandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

read

[Syd · Rating 4 out of 5]

a goodie for class

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

*3.5

[Em · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this short and poignant book of modern Americana poetry