Frank X Walker by Judy Bussey Yesterday, I was privileged to hear a keynote address by Frank X Walker, who also treated us to readings of his own poetry during a KCTCS statewide faculty conference.The University of Kentucky Professor of English and Creative Writing is what I've deemed a "holistic historian". He's an inviting prism for viewing social injustice in all the hues and tones of reality. He's a mentor for those of us who write and those of us who teach and sincerely want to move our students to a higher place of thinking, understanding, and respect.
Walker's poetry is life in motion and he brings an historical moment alive in his reading. His use of the metaphor is pure genius. His vocal performance, as he speaks truth to reality, is on target and we know what he intends us to know, and feel what he intends us to feel. Walker takes a real slice of life and creates a universal significance.
Walker has a great sense of humour that shines through to make even the most cynical or jaded want to hear what he has to say. His smile must be such a joy to his students. He's so in tune to his listener and they know he likes them and wants them to see the joy in his message. This comic, super-hero avatar seemed appropriate to place in this essay. Nikki Giovanni, a favorite of mine for 35 years, and whom I had the privilege to hear in person a few years ago, says of Walker's book, Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York, "And now, York finally has a voice". She's referring to the Kentucky slave who, once commanded to travel with the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1803, was pivotal to its persistence and its tremendous historical impact. York has remained primarily unknown and, perhaps never really honored by we students of Kentucky and American History. Who better than a smiling super-hero to keep our attention and make us want to know more. Frank X Walker doesn't want the glory, he wants us to know and honor York, a man not yet written into our history books.
Lewis and Clark kept meticulous journals of the venture and others wrote statements about the historical expedition. Walker uses the quotes as a lens for interpreting the silenced voice of York, who, as a slave wasn't allowed to learn to write. Walker delves into the heart of the man, York, who was torn from his family. York faces new adventure and spectacular majesty in the natural environment they explore while searching for a water passage to the Pacific. In his words, Walker captures York's, yearning for the fulfillment of sharing his own wondrous discoveries. Walker presents York's wondrous experience in words we understand and gives York's story the reality it deserves--the reality of human rights to pursue personal joy and freedom.
I first heard Frank X Walker when he was a young University of Kentucky Student in the late 1980s. He has grown into a master of the written word and of a lost, but true side of Kentucky and national history--a history he spins into a yarn of universal importance.
Today, he is teaching students at the University of Kentucky, but leaves for an assignment in Africa soon. Look Frank X up and see when his KET special will air. I'm very proud to have heard and become reacquainted with Frank X Walker yesterday.
As an aspiring writer, my hope is that I learn from Walker how to best dignify my beloved Appalachian coal mining culture in a manner that presents the dreams, sacrifices, the labor and the love in a manner that is understood and valued . Cultures, within cultures, within cultures.....we are all part of the ever expanding whole.
Books by Frank X Walker include:
Affrilachia
Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York
Isaac Murphy-I Dedicate This Ride
Black Box
When Winter Come: The Ascension of York.
Hoping you check out one of Walker's books,
then read with honest and reflective feeling.
Peace,
Judy
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