In Buffalo Dance, Frank X Walker innovatively blurs the lines between poetry, fiction, and history to tell the story of the infamous Lewis and Clark expedition from the point of view of Clark’s slave, York, the first African American to traverse the continent. Breathing lyrical life into an important but overlooked historical figure, these poems vividly present the intricacies of York’s personality and form a narrative of his saga—a physical journey from the plantation to the great northwest and a spiritual journey from a humble servant to a man yearning for fulfillment and freedom. 
In the narrative fabric these poems weave, York bears the burden of heavy labor as the expedition travels hundreds of miles of waterways in search of a Northwest Passage to the Pacific Ocean. Along the way, York empathizes with the Native Americans he encounters and joins them in mourning his masters' dominion over the land and their misuse of the Earth’s riches. The awe-inspiring natural beauty of the American west that his masters will despoil move York to the realization that "every soft an pretty thing God make / got a hard an ugly to carry with it." 
Walker's poetry relates York’s bitter tales of his elders’ abductions, devastating memories of fleeting moments shared with his wife, feverish dreams of running free with buffalo and flying unfettered over the continent, and imagined promises to family and friends to "return and bring … you wings." Though York remains a slave throughout his travels, Walker endows him with experiences and emotions that liberate his spirit though his body remains enslaved. 
At the journey’s end, after experiencing life beyond the plantation and gaining insight into nature, freedom, justice, and man’s inhumanity to man, York knows that "the search for the treasure / was the real treasure." Walker eloquently conveys these moments of transformation in York’s life, and the result is a celebration of the beauty and wisdom of one man’s soul.

Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York (Kentucky Voices, 3)

Literature & Fiction

Walker, Frank X.

Poetry

Univ Pr of Kentucky

When Winter Come: The Ascension of York (Kentucky Voices)

A sequel to the award-winning Buffalo Dance, Frank X Walker's When Winter Come: The Ascension of York is a dramatic reimagining of Lewis and Clark's legendary exploration of the American West. By focusing on the humanity and struggles of York, Clark's slave, When Winter Come challenges conventional views of the journey's heroes and exposes the deeds, both great and ghastly, of the men behind the myth. Grounded in the history of the famous trip, Walker's vibrant account allows York―little more than a forgotten footnote in traditional narratives―to embody the full range of human ability, knowledge, emotion, and experience. He is a skillful hunter who kills his prey with both grace and reverence, and he thinks deeply about the proper place of humans in the natural world. York knows the seasons "like a book," and he "can read moss, sunsets, the moon, and a mare's foaling time with a touch." The Native peoples understand and honor York's innate bond with the earth. Though his expertise is integral to the journey's success, York's masters do not reward him; they know only the way of the lash. The alternately heartbreaking and uplifting poems in When Winter Come are told from multiple perspectives and rendered in vivid detail. On the journey, York forges a spiritual connection and shares sensual delights with a Nez Perce woman, and he aches when he is forced to leave her and their unborn son. Walker's poems capture the profound feelings of love and loss on each side of this ill-fated meeting of souls. When the trek ends and York is sent back to his former home, his wife and stepmother air their joys and grievances. As the perspectives of Lewis, Clark, Sacagawea, and others in the party emerge, Walker also gives voice to York's knife, his hunting shirt, and the river waters that have borne the labors and travels of thousands before and after the Lewis and Clark expedition. Despite fleeting hints that escape is possible, slavery continues to bind York and quell the joyful noise in his spirit until his death. Walker's poems, however, give York his voice after centuries of silence. When Winter Come exalts the historical persona of a slave and lifts the soul of a man. York ascends out of his chains, out of oblivion, and into flight.

University Press of Kentucky

" Winner of the 35th Annual Lillian Smith Book Award, 2004 A BookSense 76 Spring 2004 Top 10 Poetry Book! Read an excerpt from the book Listen to Frank X Walker reading on NPR's ""This I Believe"" segment of Morning Edition. This collection of persona poems tells the story of the infamous Lewis &amp; Clark expedition from the point of view of Clark's personal slave, York. The poems form a narrative of York's inner and outer journey, before, during and after the expedition―a journey from slavery to freedom, from the plantation to the great northwest, from servant to soul yearning to be free. Over the course of the saga and through the poems, we are treated to subtle and overt commentaries on literacy, slavery, native Americans, buffalo, the environment, and more. Though Buffalo Dance purposely references historic accounts and facts, it is fictionalized poetry, and Frank X Walker's rare blend of history and art breathes life into an important but overlooked historical figure. Frank X Walker is the author of Affrilachia and the soon to be released Black Box , two collections of poetry. He teaches in the department of English &amp; Theatre and is the interim Director of the African/African American Studies Program at Eastern Kentucky University. He is also a visiting professor in Pan African Studies department at the University of Louisville. A 2004 recipient of the Lillian Smith Book Award, he lives in Lexington, KY. Click here for Frank Walker's website.

Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York (Kentucky Voices)

The people and places in Appalachia make it a rich, multifaceted, and diverse region. When author Frank X Walker first coined the phrase "Affrilachia," he wanted to ensure that the voices and accomplishments of African Americans in that region were recognized and exalted. A Is for Affrilachia not only brings awareness of notable African Americans from this region, but this inspired children's alphabet book is also an exuberant celebration of the people, physical spaces, and historical events that may not be as well-known in mainstream educational structures.\nIllustrated by acclaimed artist upfromsumdirt, every image exudes vibrancy, beauty, and whimsy as it depicts an alphabetized word alongside each corresponding letter. Featured are a range of musicians, artists, and activists, as well as mountain ranges, literary works, and coal mining implements. Famous names, such as playwright August Wilson, writer Nikki Giovanni, actor Chadwick Boseman, and singer Nina Simone are spotlighted, as well as lesser-known individuals, such as artist Romare Bearden and musician Amythyst Kiah. Particularly poignant are the letters representing the four girls―Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley―who were killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963.\nEquipped with a glossary to engage discussion regarding the importance of the individuals and places represented, this children's book is a unique and engaging ABC primer that offers a rich display of regional, racial, and cultural heritage through word and image.

A Is for Affrilachia

Children's Books

History

When Frank X Walker's compelling collection of personal poems was first released in 2004, it told the story of the infamous Lewis and Clark expedition from the point of view of York, who was enslaved to Clark and became the first African American man to traverse the continent. The fictionalized poems in Buffalo Dance form a narrative of York's inner journey before, during, and after the expedition―a journey from slavery to freedom, from the plantation to the great Northwest, from servant to soul yearning to be free. 
In this expanded edition, Walker utilizes extensive historical research, interviews, transcribed oral histories from the Nez Perce Reservation, art, and empathy to breathe new life into an important but overlooked historical figure. Featuring a new historical essay, preface, and sixteen additional poems, this powerful work speaks to such themes as racism, the power of literacy, the inhumanity of slavery, and the crimes against Native Americans, while reawakening and reclaiming the lost "voice" of York.

Around the void left by the murder of Medgar Evers in 1963, the poems in this collection speak, unleashing the strong emotions both before and after the moment of assassination. Poems take on the voices of Evers's widow, Myrlie; his brother, Charles; his assassin, Byron De La Beckwith; and each of De La Beckwith's two wives. Except for the book's title,"Turn me loose," which were his final words, Evers remains in this collection silent. Yet the poems accumulate facets of the love and hate with which others saw this man, unghosting him in a way that only imagination makes possible.

Turn Me Loose: The Unghosting of Medgar Evers

University of Georgia Press

Now in its eighth printing, Frank X Walker's pathbreaking book of poems Affrilachia is a classic of Appalachian and African-American literature. Walker created the word "Affrilachia" to help make visible the experience of African-Americans living in the rural and Appalachian South. The book is widely used in classrooms and is one of the foundational works of the Affrilachian Poets, a community of writers offering fresh ways to think about diversity in the Appalachian region and beyond.

Affrilachia: Poems by Frank X Walker

Ohio University Press Distributed Titles

This powerful collection of poems from award-winning poet Frank X Walker continues the autobiograhical, political and literary journey of Affrilachia, his groundbreaking book of poems about growing up black in the Appalachian south (Old Cove Press, 2000). In Black Box he offers the reader 68 new poems -- written with passion, clarity and emotional honesty -- that illuminate experiences of race, love, social justice, family, identity and place.

Black Box

In this richly imagined collection of poems, Frank X Walker brings to life the mind and heart of legendary African-American jockey Isaac Burns Murphy (1861-1896). The son of a slave, Murphy rose to the top of thoroughbred racing in a brilliant career that brought him wealth, honor and international fame. The first to win the Kentucky Derby three times (1884, 1890, 1891), Murphy won an unprecedented 44% of the races he entered. Part of the lore surrounding Murphy's legacy was his penchant for not using the whip. He preferred to ride his mounts into the winner's circle by using his well-honed skills and simply talking to his horses.
 Through poetic imagination and historical research, Walker creates a unique literary portrait of Murphy. The poems are written in the voices of Murphy and his wife Lucy, his mentor African-American trainer Eli Jordan, and his parents James and America Burns. Their words follow Murphy's childhood years in Lexington, Kentucky, his rise to become America's most famous jockey, his encounters with racial violence in the post-Civil War South, and his early death at age thirty-five.
 In Murphy's time, thoroughbred racing was dominated by African-American jockeys. In the first Kentucky Derby, thirteen of the fifteen jockeys were black. Of the first twenty-eight runnings of the Derby (1875-1902), fifteen were won by African-American riders. As the century ended, black jockeys began to disappear from racing, an exodus that continued throughout the twentieth century. I Dedicate This Ride helps bring this important history to light.
 "I hope the knowledge of thoroughbred racing's original legacy can be returned to the African-American community and to all of us," says Walker. "I hope the book adds to the growing appreciation of Isaac Murphy as one of Kentucky's and the nation's greatest African-American figures. At the height of his career, Isaac was as famous as Jack Johnson, as fast as Jesse Owens, as dignified as Jackie Robinson and as admired as Michael Jordan. In Kentucky, he is to Lexington what Muhammad Ali is to Louisville."
 The poems imagined/spoken here by Isaac and Lucy Murphy, Eli Jordan, and James and America Burns tell Murphy's compelling life story. They shine a light on the life of America's most celebrated black jockey, his family and community, and the historical canvas on which his extraordinary life played out.

Isaac Murphy: I Dedicate This Ride

Reference

Old Cove Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Walker, Frank X.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Walker, Frank X.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Walker, Frank X.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York (Kentucky Voices, 3)

When Winter Come: The Ascension of York (Kentucky Voices)

Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York (Kentucky Voices)

A Is for Affrilachia

Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York (Kentucky Voices)

Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York (Kentucky Voices)

Turn Me Loose: The Unghosting of Medgar Evers

Affrilachia: Poems by Frank X Walker

Black Box

Isaac Murphy: I Dedicate This Ride