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Turn Me Loose: The Unghosting of Medgar Evers
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.
96 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2013
About the author
Frank X. Walker
24 books81 followersMultidisciplinary 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
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
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
February 7, 2019
This poetry collection tells different facets of the Medgar Evers’ story. He was the NAACP field secretary in Mississippi and was assassinated in 1963. The story is told through his assassin, assassin’s wives, Medgar’s brother Charles and his widow Myrlie. Though Medgar Evers doesn’t speak in these poems his presence is felt thus is unghosting.
Walker brilliantly shows the opposing views of the good old days of the South. In the poems, Ambiguity Over the Confederate Flag and One Mississippi, Two Mississippi’s, Walker shows how Whites romanticize the idea of the grand days of the South while Blacks face the brutality of the South. In the poem, N-Word Charles Evers speaks and gives a history lesson of the word and it’s awful uses. This book is a history lesson and poetry wrapped up in one.
Walker brilliantly shows the opposing views of the good old days of the South. In the poems, Ambiguity Over the Confederate Flag and One Mississippi, Two Mississippi’s, Walker shows how Whites romanticize the idea of the grand days of the South while Blacks face the brutality of the South. In the poem, N-Word Charles Evers speaks and gives a history lesson of the word and it’s awful uses. This book is a history lesson and poetry wrapped up in one.
December 20, 2013
Lance Cleland (Workshop Director): While my poetry highs of the year were Patricia Lockwood’s “Rape Joke,” my introduction to Bianca Stone’s work via her upcoming Tin House/Octopus publication, and Mary Szybist’s well deserved National Book Award, the collection that has stayed with me is Frank X Walker’s Turn Me Loose: The Unghosting of Medgar Evers. In its 49 poems, the book recounts the life and death of the civil rights activist through a variety of voices, including Byron De La Beckwith, his assassin. As you might expect, the book fluctuates between love and hate, empathy and rage, and the fact that those emotions can sit so comfortably side-by-side on the page is what makes Walker’s work so vital. It is a testament to both the author and his treatment of the subject matter that events that took place some 50 years ago never feel distant. Part of my love for this collection stems from my discovering it during the Zimmerman trial. And while it is sad that the echoes of hate found in Beckwith’s voice still find us today, I take comfort in knowing that poets like Walker are not distancing themselves from the fight.
September 14, 2013
Searing, brilliantly realized, these forty-nine poems exhume the history of a great American hero, Medgar Evers, whose 1963 death at the hands of white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith lit a powder keg of racial unrest in the nation and ushered in a decade of political assassinations. With their deep links to African American poetic traditions of social commentary and historical excavation, Walker's poems summon ghosts of the southern past to probe the daily horror of dehumanization under the reign of Jim Crow and the terrifying psychological roots of white supremacism, past and present.
July 20, 2014
Found it to be quite dull and mundane. The author pushed the themes which took away from the purely flat poems. I plan to read it again, however I just did not feel as if I got anything out of it. Compared to the likes of Hart Crane, Allen Ginsberg, T.S. Eliot, et cetera this short book of poetry just did not fulfill my desire for "good" poetry. Saying that, I know poetry is an art and thus a review of it can be subjective. So, I should not critique it as I have done, but so be it. I will end with a quote from Oscar Wilde -- "All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling."
April 3, 2018
p.9 I hear all of my faith collapse/ on the wings of woman's scream.
p.15 He often confused hatred with desire.
p.33 Have you not seen what one drop of black/ paint will do to a gallon of white? (Ralph Ellison would be proud of the quote.
A diverse collection of poems. "One-Third of 180 Grams of Lead" is told from the perspective of the bullet which rips through Medgar. There is one poem in remembrance of Emmitt Till which is a combination of five separate Haiku's. The short poems converge to create an outstanding larger poem, an intriguing writing idea.
The voice of Medgar is largely absent from the poems, instead the author focuses upon the surrounding individuals.
p.15 He often confused hatred with desire.
p.33 Have you not seen what one drop of black/ paint will do to a gallon of white? (Ralph Ellison would be proud of the quote.
A diverse collection of poems. "One-Third of 180 Grams of Lead" is told from the perspective of the bullet which rips through Medgar. There is one poem in remembrance of Emmitt Till which is a combination of five separate Haiku's. The short poems converge to create an outstanding larger poem, an intriguing writing idea.
The voice of Medgar is largely absent from the poems, instead the author focuses upon the surrounding individuals.
November 23, 2023
This collection of poetry by Frank X. Walker is one of the most moving collections I have ever read. He is a master of language with an ability to portray extremely tough subject matter with grace.
September 15, 2018
A poetry book composed of “dueling” sides in the murder of Medgar Evers was something I did not think I would ever see, but then, Frank X. Walker does not gives us what we think we need to see, he seems best at giving us what we should not ignore. My exposure to Mr. Walker predated this as, when a student, I was advised of a play he was involved in writing - Affrilachia, which was a performance he was involved in that, if memory serves, evolved out of another one of his books. The play featured music, dance, and more - but for me, as a white male from a rural area of Kentucky, it did more - it echoed, literally and figuratively, a message that “some of the Bluegrass was black.” This message resounded with me and, years later as I worked on my dissertation, it became shaped in large part by uncovering the tales, stories, and histories of students (women, African Americans, religious minorities, etc) that the campus had ignored.
Eighteen months after finishing my PhD, I chance upon this book and pick it up with interest. Walker twists another key and starts another engine of thought with this one. In more than sixty poems and writings, Walker speaks for both sides, assuming the voice of figures such as Ever’s widow and with equal talent, Byron De La Beckwith, his assassin. Other voices channel seemingly through Walker and are heard, but Walker’s talent shows with these two extremes. From the opening salvo of the first poem, done in the identity of Ever’s widow, Myrlie, the die is cast with a simple argument:
“When people talk about the movement
As if it started in ‘64, it erases every
body who vanished on the way home...”
The book shows the humanity in all the people, but as they were real, Walker does not let them become characters. Beckwith could be made a caricature of heinous evil, but Walker presents him and his wife. They sing their side with the same zeal as Myrlie.
If Walker meant to just “unghost” Evers from disappearing from history, he overshot. Through poetry, he has unghosted an entire event, time, conflict, and many, many others.
Eighteen months after finishing my PhD, I chance upon this book and pick it up with interest. Walker twists another key and starts another engine of thought with this one. In more than sixty poems and writings, Walker speaks for both sides, assuming the voice of figures such as Ever’s widow and with equal talent, Byron De La Beckwith, his assassin. Other voices channel seemingly through Walker and are heard, but Walker’s talent shows with these two extremes. From the opening salvo of the first poem, done in the identity of Ever’s widow, Myrlie, the die is cast with a simple argument:
“When people talk about the movement
As if it started in ‘64, it erases every
body who vanished on the way home...”
The book shows the humanity in all the people, but as they were real, Walker does not let them become characters. Beckwith could be made a caricature of heinous evil, but Walker presents him and his wife. They sing their side with the same zeal as Myrlie.
If Walker meant to just “unghost” Evers from disappearing from history, he overshot. Through poetry, he has unghosted an entire event, time, conflict, and many, many others.
January 25, 2014
Some good collections of poetry dazzle the reader with their skill, or the emotional impact; some leave a mark. Walker's collection falls into that second category.
The voices in this collection of persona poems are haunting. From Medgar Evers, his wife Myrlie and brother Charles Evers to his murderer Byron de la Beckwith and his two ex-wives, Willie and Thelma, each poem captures a facet of the assassination and its aftermath.
Each poem also captures a facet of the fear that pervaded Mississippi. Walker pulls no punches. In a poem titled "The N-Word" from Charles' pov, "Hearing that word . . . / brings back the smell/of German shepherd breath/ of fresh gasoline/ and sulfur air.
It would be the easy way out to paint Beckwith's evil in a stereotypical way, focus on the hate speech and the hood, but Walker explores his fear. In "Harriet Tubman as Villian: A Ghost Story" Beckwith's persona imagines a narrative where Tubman succeeded in freeing all slaves, referring to the owners as "the poor old farmer and his wife" who after working their own fields were found "frozen to a cotton bush, fingers and hands cut up / and still bleeding after working themselves to death." Walker demonstrates the way a story that would signify hope for some, twists like a knife in the mind a person obsessed with the fear of seeing everything that represents order disappear, who will hold on to it with a white knuckled grip.
But it is the voice of Myrlie that is the conscience behind the story, opening and closing with the importance of not forgetting, "When people talk /about the movement as if it started in '64 . . . /It means he lived and died for nothing. / And that's worse than killing him again."
There are 49 gems in this collection, as important for the technical skill of Walker's lines as for their ability to make certain emotions, fear, hate, grief, resolve, consolation == palpable.
The voices in this collection of persona poems are haunting. From Medgar Evers, his wife Myrlie and brother Charles Evers to his murderer Byron de la Beckwith and his two ex-wives, Willie and Thelma, each poem captures a facet of the assassination and its aftermath.
Each poem also captures a facet of the fear that pervaded Mississippi. Walker pulls no punches. In a poem titled "The N-Word" from Charles' pov, "Hearing that word . . . / brings back the smell/of German shepherd breath/ of fresh gasoline/ and sulfur air.
It would be the easy way out to paint Beckwith's evil in a stereotypical way, focus on the hate speech and the hood, but Walker explores his fear. In "Harriet Tubman as Villian: A Ghost Story" Beckwith's persona imagines a narrative where Tubman succeeded in freeing all slaves, referring to the owners as "the poor old farmer and his wife" who after working their own fields were found "frozen to a cotton bush, fingers and hands cut up / and still bleeding after working themselves to death." Walker demonstrates the way a story that would signify hope for some, twists like a knife in the mind a person obsessed with the fear of seeing everything that represents order disappear, who will hold on to it with a white knuckled grip.
But it is the voice of Myrlie that is the conscience behind the story, opening and closing with the importance of not forgetting, "When people talk /about the movement as if it started in '64 . . . /It means he lived and died for nothing. / And that's worse than killing him again."
There are 49 gems in this collection, as important for the technical skill of Walker's lines as for their ability to make certain emotions, fear, hate, grief, resolve, consolation == palpable.
June 6, 2014
This is the best book that I've read in a long time. It's possibly the best book that I've read so far this year. There are a lot of great poems in this collection, but my favorite was probably "Ambiguity Over The Confederate Flag." I kept coming back to that one because it was so attention-grabbing.
These forty-nine poems explore the 1963 murder of civil-rights activist Medgar Evers. This is the type of book that you keep thinking about long after you've finished it. The poems are beautiful, powerful, and disturbing. What impressed me most was the author's ability to get inside the heads of real people and make it sound so authentic. The poems are told from the points-of-view of Evers's wife and brother as well as his murderer and his murderer's ex-wives. Each poem explores some element of Evers's life and death.
This book could have the power to leave the reader feeling hopeless, but the author handles the subject so skillfully that it doesn't. The book perfectly captures the complexity of human nature. It shows humans' capacity for love and hate, despair and forgiveness.
If you are interested in poetry or American history, I'd highly recommend this book.
These forty-nine poems explore the 1963 murder of civil-rights activist Medgar Evers. This is the type of book that you keep thinking about long after you've finished it. The poems are beautiful, powerful, and disturbing. What impressed me most was the author's ability to get inside the heads of real people and make it sound so authentic. The poems are told from the points-of-view of Evers's wife and brother as well as his murderer and his murderer's ex-wives. Each poem explores some element of Evers's life and death.
This book could have the power to leave the reader feeling hopeless, but the author handles the subject so skillfully that it doesn't. The book perfectly captures the complexity of human nature. It shows humans' capacity for love and hate, despair and forgiveness.
If you are interested in poetry or American history, I'd highly recommend this book.
June 26, 2015
"You can fill all the libraries with your version
of facts, call it history, and still not own the truth."
Turn me Loose is an anthology of poems written by Frank X. Walker, about the murder of Medgar Evers in 1963. These poems give a voice to the murderer, his wives, Evers, his widow and his brother. These poems give a voice to any racist who lived or still lives and it gives a voice to the victim of racism. A tiny collection of poems hold within them a lot of weight in history and justice.
It is almost as if I found just the right time to read this collection. In the wake of the Charleston Massacre, for a girl who is neither white, nor black, nor American it was insightful to read about the struggle of the past as it appears to still go on. I feel like everyone should read this book and realize that racism, no matter where it is in the world, no matter what is its nature should not be practiced, because it only leads to corrupt thoughts and consequently corrupt actions.
of facts, call it history, and still not own the truth."
Turn me Loose is an anthology of poems written by Frank X. Walker, about the murder of Medgar Evers in 1963. These poems give a voice to the murderer, his wives, Evers, his widow and his brother. These poems give a voice to any racist who lived or still lives and it gives a voice to the victim of racism. A tiny collection of poems hold within them a lot of weight in history and justice.
It is almost as if I found just the right time to read this collection. In the wake of the Charleston Massacre, for a girl who is neither white, nor black, nor American it was insightful to read about the struggle of the past as it appears to still go on. I feel like everyone should read this book and realize that racism, no matter where it is in the world, no matter what is its nature should not be practiced, because it only leads to corrupt thoughts and consequently corrupt actions.
April 3, 2014
I love learning about the Civil Rights Movement, and this "love" led me to "Turn Me Loose." The stories held within the boundaries of these poems are powerful, unforgettable--the writing is, too. This is the 2nd books of poetry I've read this year, and it's the 2nd book of poetry that I've immediately shared with those around me, challenging them try out certain poetic strategies for themselves. Besides the story of Medgar Evers, this book touches on the monstrosity behind the murder of Emmett Till, another story about which I am passionate. So, if you enjoy learning about Civil Rights and Emmett Till and Medgar Evers and even Mississippi, this is a book for you. And if you don't know what you think about these subjects, this is a book for you.
February 16, 2014
What can I say about Frank X Walker? He's just about the coolest ever, and a great writing, and an amazing citizen of the world (literary and otherwise). I suggest reading all his books, for the poetry, but also for the history. I love when I learn something from a book, without ever feeling as though I'm being taught.
January 2, 2018
Unghosting is a great word to describe this collection. I didn't know much about Medgar Evers. The poems from the POV of the women: his widow, and the wives of his killer, stuck with me the most. Definitely will read again, numerous times. Don't be surprised if you are gifted this from me. It is that good.
July 22, 2017
An interesting book that gave a detail in different ways and of different lives and views of people that experienced or added racism. Every poem in this book is intense and really makes the reader think, and reflect on their own lives as well as the history of America. It is a very thought provoking book, witch is needed in these types of major historical conflicts.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 16, 2014
An electric collection of poems and background information on the Medgar Evers murder. Walker is a master poet - calm, subtle, precise. He paints pictures with words and makes you feel the horror of racism, the despair of grief and the redemptive power of recovery.
March 28, 2014
An excellent collection: well crafted, passionate poems! Poems filled with invention and play in defiance of the themes they take up. Had I read only one collection this year, I would want for it to be have been this one.
October 15, 2017
I had wanted to read this for a while, after hearing some selections from it presented on Michelle Martin's Tell Me More. While I found many of these poems moving, I wish the book overall had gone a little deeper and held back a little less.
April 11, 2014
Great poetry collection. Very powerful and emotional.
May 18, 2014
Cannot wait until this poet visits Mount Mercy U on Oct. 9.
April 22, 2014
As disturbing as it was powerful, a book about an icon from the POV of his wife and his assassin.
February 18, 2016
These poems are so powerful. What Frank X Walker does with just an extra space is beautiful.
September 3, 2017
One of the best collection of poetry I have ever read. Powerful. Should be taught in courses on American history.
November 27, 2018
Book of poetry about medgar evers. Not bad verse.
December 20, 2018
Phenomenal and shocking.
November 4, 2023
I was fortunate to read this poetry collection with the Welty at Home virtual book club, as part of their series on literature and music inspired by the savage assassination of Mr. Medgar Evers in 1963.
I cannot know for sure if the five star rating (as opposed to four) is due to the group setting, but it certainly has at least something to do with it. When it comes to poetry I typically gravitate to the classics (think John Donne and Robert Frost!), and then 20th century Black-American poets like Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou.
What Frank X. Walker has done here is remarkable. The reader is forced into the psyche of Mr. Evers's assassin, of Mr. Evers's wife, and of Mr. Evers's children. Too often, we as witnesses' to tragedy consider only the tragedy for the victim. While that is certainly where our focus should be, our periphery should also be aware of the domino impact felt by the family, friends, and community. Even the perpetrator's motives should be given some thought, as understanding how and why (how and why?!) they did what they did, in order to help prevent future occurrences.
Fourteen of the poems in Turn Me Loose are narrated by Myrlie, Mr. Evers's wife. There are two more where she is joined by the wives of De La Beckwith. For instance, the poem "Fire Proof" by Willie De La Beckwith is a special invitation for the individual to evaluate themselves.
As this series by the Welty at Home virtual book club was inspired by Miss Eudora's story Where Is The Voice Coming From?, I will close with her emotionally painful, and yet masterful recreation of Medgar Evers's assassination:
That was him and bound to be him. It was the right nigger heading in a new white car up his driveway towards his garage... That was him....
I'd already brought up my rifle, I'd already taken my sights.
Something darker than him, like the wings of a bird, spread on his back and pulled him down. He climbed up once, like a man under bad claws, and like just blood could weigh a ton he walked with it on his back to better light. Didn't get no further than his door. And fell to stay.
He was down. He was down.
I cannot know for sure if the five star rating (as opposed to four) is due to the group setting, but it certainly has at least something to do with it. When it comes to poetry I typically gravitate to the classics (think John Donne and Robert Frost!), and then 20th century Black-American poets like Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou.
What Frank X. Walker has done here is remarkable. The reader is forced into the psyche of Mr. Evers's assassin, of Mr. Evers's wife, and of Mr. Evers's children. Too often, we as witnesses' to tragedy consider only the tragedy for the victim. While that is certainly where our focus should be, our periphery should also be aware of the domino impact felt by the family, friends, and community. Even the perpetrator's motives should be given some thought, as understanding how and why (how and why?!) they did what they did, in order to help prevent future occurrences.
Fourteen of the poems in Turn Me Loose are narrated by Myrlie, Mr. Evers's wife. There are two more where she is joined by the wives of De La Beckwith. For instance, the poem "Fire Proof" by Willie De La Beckwith is a special invitation for the individual to evaluate themselves.
As this series by the Welty at Home virtual book club was inspired by Miss Eudora's story Where Is The Voice Coming From?, I will close with her emotionally painful, and yet masterful recreation of Medgar Evers's assassination:
That was him and bound to be him. It was the right nigger heading in a new white car up his driveway towards his garage... That was him....
I'd already brought up my rifle, I'd already taken my sights.
Something darker than him, like the wings of a bird, spread on his back and pulled him down. He climbed up once, like a man under bad claws, and like just blood could weigh a ton he walked with it on his back to better light. Didn't get no further than his door. And fell to stay.
He was down. He was down.
December 16, 2020
I was supposed to read this my first year of college for a creative writing class. I ended up not having enough time to read it, but I saw it on my shelf recently and felt that now was the time.
I was a little hesitant at the beginning while reading the foreward because I haven't been presented with a collection of poetry that has something like that at the beginning. However, the poems included are very powerful.
The collection of poetry is divided into five parts detailing characters surrounding Medgar Evers. The fourth part, gallant South, is so powerful that I had cold chills while reading those poems. Immediately moving into the fifth section, the first poem titled, "One Mississippi, Two Mississippis", had me struck because I didn't realize until about halfway through reading that, that I was reading it in the way children count one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi, etc. Inherently by knowing this, I believe that made that poem really come alive for me.
Overall, Frank x Walker weaves an incredible collection of poetry that I am glad I waited to read now that I am more understanding of the topic and genre.
I was a little hesitant at the beginning while reading the foreward because I haven't been presented with a collection of poetry that has something like that at the beginning. However, the poems included are very powerful.
The collection of poetry is divided into five parts detailing characters surrounding Medgar Evers. The fourth part, gallant South, is so powerful that I had cold chills while reading those poems. Immediately moving into the fifth section, the first poem titled, "One Mississippi, Two Mississippis", had me struck because I didn't realize until about halfway through reading that, that I was reading it in the way children count one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi, etc. Inherently by knowing this, I believe that made that poem really come alive for me.
Overall, Frank x Walker weaves an incredible collection of poetry that I am glad I waited to read now that I am more understanding of the topic and genre.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 27, 2024
A collection of poems that tell the story of Medgar Evers, a Black man assassinated for his work in the civil rights movement.
from The N- Word: "Hearing that word launched / from the back of any throat // brings back the smell / of German shepherd breath // of fresh gasoline / and sulfur air // of fear—both ours and theirs."
from Listening to Music: "The right song slow dancing through the air / at the end of a long day full of kids // and no husband, could not only set the tone, / but put the sound of yesterday back in the air."
from Haiku for Emmett Till: "Fourteen is too soon / to visit Mississippi / to come home in a box"
from The N- Word: "Hearing that word launched / from the back of any throat // brings back the smell / of German shepherd breath // of fresh gasoline / and sulfur air // of fear—both ours and theirs."
from Listening to Music: "The right song slow dancing through the air / at the end of a long day full of kids // and no husband, could not only set the tone, / but put the sound of yesterday back in the air."
from Haiku for Emmett Till: "Fourteen is too soon / to visit Mississippi / to come home in a box"
November 2, 2023
This is a very powerful book. It's incredible how he could imagine Byron and Willie de la Beckwith’s perspectives, their hatred and fear. My favorite poems were the ones speaking to the strength of Myrlie and other members of the Evers family ("Evers Family Recipe" stands out). This book reads like a soundtrack of civil rights, honoring those whose lives were horrifically taken too soon (Medgar Evers, Emmett Till, James Craig Anderson).
September 14, 2019
While my first read of this book had me caught up in a whelm of facts I'm woefully ignorant of, I can feel the layers and layers of art that I'll get to dig into on re-reading. An important book for right now, for always.
October 15, 2023
Read this for one of my English classes and it was actually pretty good. It’s different than any book I’ve ever read. It’s cool how the story is told through a collection of poems with different people as speakers.
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