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| Volume 1 Issue 1 |
| All files © Copyright 2007 The Sylvan Echo |
Black Box
by Frank X Walker
Old Cove Press, 2006
$15.50, ISBN 0-9675424-1-3
By Randall Horton
If there is one title in Frank X Walker’s collection that effectively explains
every poem he has ever written, then that poem is "My Poems Been Runnin’
Theys Mouth Again." Consider the undeniable self-incriminating evidence, “I
have learned that I cannot trust/my poems/everybody knows/more about me
and my family now/than I would ever tell a soul.” And yes, these poems are
the “mouth of the south.” In his latest book Black Box, Walker writes with
versatility of aesthetics as well as command of the Black idiom and its idyllic
origins. The opening poem, which places into historical context the
significance of the basketball game Kentucky vs. Western, 1966, is executed
masterfully as it demonstrates the poets' presentation of history and its
ramifications through verse. Consider the importance, “On our side of the
tracks/that game/cast a shadow as luminous, as Joe Louis boxing gloves.”
With a line like that, the reader is compelled to keep turning the pages.
Walker also shows his mastery of haiku in poems like "Walk With Me Basho":
“Tobacco field are/oceans of sea turtles/but my leaves are mute.” While
many of Walker’s haiku are rooted in the Black Experience, each of these
5/7/5 imagery driven multiple verses have a thematic universality that
transcends language. In other words, these poems are able to reach a wider
audience and should be embraced. Walker does an excellent job in
balancing the tone of the book, giving his reader the political, the humanistic
and a sense of family to name a few common threads that bind this book
together.
by Frank X Walker
Old Cove Press, 2006
$15.50, ISBN 0-9675424-1-3
By Randall Horton
If there is one title in Frank X Walker’s collection that effectively explains
every poem he has ever written, then that poem is "My Poems Been Runnin’
Theys Mouth Again." Consider the undeniable self-incriminating evidence, “I
have learned that I cannot trust/my poems/everybody knows/more about me
and my family now/than I would ever tell a soul.” And yes, these poems are
the “mouth of the south.” In his latest book Black Box, Walker writes with
versatility of aesthetics as well as command of the Black idiom and its idyllic
origins. The opening poem, which places into historical context the
significance of the basketball game Kentucky vs. Western, 1966, is executed
masterfully as it demonstrates the poets' presentation of history and its
ramifications through verse. Consider the importance, “On our side of the
tracks/that game/cast a shadow as luminous, as Joe Louis boxing gloves.”
With a line like that, the reader is compelled to keep turning the pages.
Walker also shows his mastery of haiku in poems like "Walk With Me Basho":
“Tobacco field are/oceans of sea turtles/but my leaves are mute.” While
many of Walker’s haiku are rooted in the Black Experience, each of these
5/7/5 imagery driven multiple verses have a thematic universality that
transcends language. In other words, these poems are able to reach a wider
audience and should be embraced. Walker does an excellent job in
balancing the tone of the book, giving his reader the political, the humanistic
and a sense of family to name a few common threads that bind this book
together.
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