Load in nine times : poems / Frank X Walker.
| Author/creator | Walker, Frank X., 1961- author. |
| Format | Book |
| Edition | First edition. |
| Publication | New York, N.Y. : Liveright Publishing Corporation, [2024] |
| Copyright Date | ©2024 |
| Description | xi, 123, 5 unnumbered pages : illustrations ; 22 cm |
| Subjects |
| Variant title | Load in 9 times |
| Contents | Part I. Truth Be Told -- Back Side of My Old Kentucky Home -- Ain't No Plantations in Kentucky - Accounting - Testify -- After My Decease, a Last Will and Testament -- Mother to Mother -- A Pinch of Seasoning - Teamster -- Silent Partner -- Because I Am a Man - Grapevine -- Telegram to Recruits from the President, August 1864 -- Telegram to Lincoln from Kentucky USCT, August 1864 -- Why I Don't Stand -- Frederick Douglass Recruits -- Mother May I? -- Blue Summer -- Part II. Palisade Picket Fence Speaks - Grove -- Damned Northern Aggressors -- The Fire Last Time - Unsalted - Harriet -- Fightin' Words -- Catch Me If You Can - Mutiny -- How Salt Works -- Bird Watching -- Cost of Equality -- Of Course -- Load in Nine Times -- We Will Prove Ourselves Men -- Golden Shovel for Matilda Dunbar -- Male Call -- Color Bearer -- Two Soldiers Who Can't Sleep Tell Jokes - Boogeyman - Simpsonville -- Two Soldiers Who Can't Sleep Compare Scars -- Every Page a Mile -- Children's Song -- Two Soldiers Who Can't Sleep Make Plans -- Let My People Go -- What About the Children? -- To Be Took -- Checkout Time -- Heirloom Seeds -- Part III. The Big Breakup - Reconstruction -- Birth of a Notion -- Don't Judge Me -- Our Grievance -- 1867-1868, Dark Year in the Bluegrass -- Birth of a Notion, No. 2 -- Oath Keeper -- Proud Boys -- Ex-Confederate Officers Toast -- Birth of a Notion, No. 3 - Affidavits -- Buffalo Soldiers - Penmanship -- Black Love Day -- A Black Father Dreams a Son - Timeline. |
| Abstract | "For decades Frank X Walker has reclaimed essential American lives through his pathbreaking historical poetry. In this stirring new collection, he reimagines the experiences of Black Civil War soldiers--including his own ancestors--who enlisted in the Union army in exchange for emancipation. Moving chronologically from antebellum Kentucky through Reconstruction, Walker braids the voices of the United States Colored Troops with their family members, as well as slave owners and prominent historical figures from Abraham Lincoln to Frederick Douglas and Margaret Garner. Imbued with atmospheric imagery, these persona poems and more '[clarify] not only the inextricable value of Black life and labor to the building of America, but the terrible price they were forced to pay in producing that labor' (Khadijah Queen). 'How do you un-orphan a people?' Walker asks. 'How do you pick up / shattered black porcelain and make / a new set of dishes fit to eat off?' While carefully attuned to the heartbreak and horrors of war, Walker's poems pay equal care to the pride, perseverance, and triumphs of their speakers. Evoking the formerly enslaved General Charles Young, Walker hums: 'I am America's promise, my mother's song, / and the reason my father had every right to dream.' Expansive and intimate, Load in Nine Times is a resounding ode to the powerful ties of individual and cultural ancestry by an indelible voice in American poetry"-- Provided by publisher. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references. |
| Genre/form | poetry. |
| Genre/form | Historical poetry. |
| Genre/form | Poetry. |
| ISBN | 9781324094937 hardcover |
| ISBN | 1324094931 hardcover |
Availability
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joyner | Featured Display - First Floor Reading Lounge | PS3623.A359 L63 2024 | Featured Display - First Floor Reading Lounge | Want This? |