Black Box

by Frank X. Walker

A powerful collection from Frank X Walker, winner of the 2005 Lannan Literary Fellowship for Poetry.

In 68 poems, Kentucky writer Frank X Walker expertly melds autobiography, political commentary, and literary allusions into a devastatingly beautiful journey through the real “Affrilachia”— a word Walker created to render visible the lives of the African-Americans who call the rural and Appalachian South home. Written with passion, clarity, and emotional honesty, the poems in Black Box illuminate profound experiences at the intersection of race, love, social justice, family, identity and place.

Published in 2005 by Old Cove Press

Genres: Poetry

144 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 12, 2005

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

[Kevin Stepp · Rating 5 out of 5]

If for no other reason (but there are plenty...), his response to Gwendolyn Brooks' "We So Cool" is alone worth the purchase price. "We So Crunk" completely honors Ms. Brooks' landmark while getting in the face of the latest generation who think that they are ten feet tall and bulletproof.

Frank's voice is genuine, honest, and direct; it must be heard.

[Anastasia Musser · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not a fan of poetry, but I found this book to be powerful.

[Vivienne Strauss · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic poetry.

favorite phrase
I learned to enjoy my solitude and long walks
to class, where I polished up the angry young
couplets I wrote in my head
and tried to understand the square root of meanness

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been more than a little while since I've read any poetry. While I'm looking to change that this year, I didn't rush into it--running to the library and loading myself down with ten or more volumes. I decided to start with what I already owned; the odd unlooked-for volumes of verse that had wandered into my life in spite of my more technical pursuits. Frank X. Walker's Black Box was one of these.

This volume was a gift from my father. I remember how enthusiastic he was on the phone, telling me how Mr. Walker had visited and read some of his poetry at the high school: "It was just really excellent poetry, Katie, and I think you'd really like it, so I've bought you one of his books." And so he had, even having it signed and dedicated to me.

Kathleen,
please enjoy these humble words
free your own words...

So Dad had told him I was a writer--in spite of the years of engineering school he helped me fight my way through. On the other hand, I guess Dad's always been a storyteller however much he's trained and worked as a petroleum engineer/physicist.

All of which background, of course, makes it especially embarrassing that it's taken me a year and a half or so to pick the book up and actually read it...but I did. Finally. And Dad was right.

Maybe it's that I'm almost new to poetry again after so long away, maybe it's that these poems read more like good songs--simple enough to understand at first, more meaningful the more you listen, or maybe it's that they're set in places I've walked like the hills of Kentucky or the streets of Cincinnati. Whatever the secret (probably all of these and other reasons besides), I really really enjoyed my evenings spent with this book.

There's something quite direct, frank, down-to-earth about Walker's poetry that details the hidden histories, tells the unspoken stories, and unravels the quiet mystery of his subjects with a succinct, occasionally rhythmic, but always fluid grace.

A couple poems from this volume, "Elves" and "View Finder" may be read here: http://www.frankxwalker.com/poems/bla...

[T.L. Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Black Box Poems by Frank X. Walker transported me to a place I both recognized and didn't recognize while expanding my understanding of the human condition. Family dynamics combined with life experience create a glimpse into country life and city life as well as juxtaposition of the simplicity of living complex lives and the complexity of living simple lives. Walker writes with a clarity that uses symbolism and bluntness in perfect harmony to drive home a point or to provoke thought. I'm always entranced by poetry that reminds me that we all share at least some commonalities in a world that works so hard to convince us all that to allow our differences to divide us rather than complement our efforts at living better lives. Reading Black Box Poems felt like taking a trip home and going into a strange land all at once.

[Zay Pinto · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection is ridden with introspection throughout. It begins with childhood and gradually evolving into the author’s grandfatherly years. Many poems are about heritage, family, retrospection, experiences, and traumas. All of which compile into a somewhat cohesive coming of age collection. I say somewhat because the timeline of the collection isn’t entirely chronological. Still, there’s a noticeable change in time.

My favorite poems are toward the front half of the book, most of them are from the perspective of childhood. Professor X does a great job of using objects as vessels of storytelling. For example, cameras are a motif throughout the book that he uses to capture perspective and memories through, which I found savvy and unique. Meanwhile, the midsection of the collection contains political commentary and history, which was a pivot from the beginning of the book that I found just okay, not great.

One thing that I can truly appreciate is how the stories have the power of teleportation by seamlessly relocating me to different times and locations without feeling out of place. For a book project absent of a centric topic, I found that impressive. Later in life, I may find myself more keen to the older age poems. As for now, I’m really connected with the youthful ones. This was an enjoyable read, for sure.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frank X. Walker writes poetry exactly the way I wish I could write poetry. Outstanding. From the heart. Real.

[Amy Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exquisite. Now I want to devour every word. Love it when I find a new to me poet that I enjoy.

[Natasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vivid, delectable, lyrical, gripping.

[Sarah Key · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you ever get the chance to hear Frank X Walker speak, I highly encourage it.

[Glenis Redmond · Rating 5 out of 5]

The male counter-point to my poetry.

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four and a half stars.

[Sherry Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I heard Frank read "My Poems Been Runnin' They Mouths Again and immediately bought the book.