Get On the Bus

The Affrilachi­an poets are off on anoth­er bus tour of Cen­tral and South­ern Appalachia, bring­ing poems every­where they go. Too bad they're not mak­ing the trip far­ther into Yan­kee territory.

The Affrilachi­an Poets: A His­to­ry of the Word

What’s In a Name?

In 1991, Frank X Walk­er learned he did not exist.

That year, a read­ing in Lex­ing­ton, Ken­tucky, fea­tured four authors from the blue­grass state and poet Nikky Finney. Dubbed “The Best of South­ern Writ­ing,” the read­ing changed the course of Walker’s life. The orig­i­nal title of the event, “The Best of Appalachi­an Writ­ing,” had been altered to accom­mo­date Finney, a South Car­oli­na native. Finney, who is African-Amer­i­can, was the sole voice of col­or in the lineup. 

There are so many good poets out there; I despair of ever catch­ing up. I know and enjoy the work of Frank X. Walk­er, Nik­ki Finney and Crys­tal Wilkin­son, and am look­ing for­ward to read­ing more of these poets when my stacks get less intimidating.

I should men­tion I learned of this through Travis Nichols' post on Har­ri­et, which is a love­ly place to find dis­course on all kinds of poems and poets. It seems strange to me that his post has exact­ly no com­ments, when most any­thing on any obscure or tired sub­ject gets a few experts in line to quib­ble or aug­ment. This post has been up for a few days, and no one's showed. Make of that what you will.

This entry was posted in affrilachian poets, crystal wilkinson, frank x. walker, harriet, nikki finney. Bookmark the permalink.

One Response to Get On the Bus

  1. Spencer Troxell says:

    I didn't know that Frank X. Walk­er exist­ed either. Thanks for the tip.

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