Full Description
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 Clark's personal slave, York. The fictionalized poems in Buffalo Dance formed 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.
In this updated edition, Walker utilizes a blend of 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 introduction, preface, and sixteen additional poems, this powerful work speaks to such topics as race, literacy, slavery, and Native Americans, while reawakening and reclaiming the lost "voice" of York.
Contents
Introduction
Preface
Acknowledgments
Wind Talker
Falls of the Ohio
To Protect and Serve
Work Ethic
God's House
Primer
At Ease
Sundays and Christmas
Lie of Omission
Calendar
Her Current
Medicine Men
Spirit Mound
Wasicum Sapa
Winter Leaf
Buffalo Dance
A House is Not a Home
No Offense
Leading Men
Domestique
Work Song
A Rock, a Fort, a Island
Not the Only One
Perfume
Black Magic
Sandstone Thighs
Mouths and Waters
Home, Home on the Range
The Portage
Sun Son
Double Yolks
Ornithologists
Nigrathologists
Swap Meet
Promises
Nomenclature
Respect House
Prosperity
...Another Man's Treasure
Vision Quest
Vision Quest II
Ananse
Mythology
Traveling Men
Earth Tones
Sweat Lodge
Doubt
Cold Hearted
Inhumane
Cure for Homesickness
Sad Eye
Aurora Borealis
Electorate
Winter with Jonah
Majesty
Pomp's Tower
The Little Sneeze
York Haichu
Private Lessons
Pastry Chefs
Solid Black
Pure White
Unravel
Revisionist History
Monticello
Souvenir
Just Rewards
A Love Supreme
Night Breaks, Freedom too
Holy Water
Ursa Major
Cumulonimbus
Birth Day
About the Author
