The 26th annual Kentucky Book Fair will be at the Frankfort Convention Center, 405 Mero Street, Frankfort, KY, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 10, 2007. It’s free and open to the public. The list of almost 200 participating writers includes poets Wendell Berry, Frank X Walker, and former Kentucky poet laureates Jane Gentry and Richard Taylor.
Nov. 9, there is a symposium and preview day for teachers and librarians, who are granted a discount on all books. Click here for more details about the book fair.
More about Wendell Berry at Wikipedia.
More about Frank X Walker on his Web site.
***
The Peace of Wild Things
When despair grows in me
and I wake in the middle of the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
— Wendell Berry
***
View Finder
— For William Warner, Sr.
in the photo
only suspenders, a black leather belt
and the shadow under a hat
are darker than your face
a charcoal reservoir for the sun
a hand-rolled filterless cigarette dances
at the edge of your smile
like a ghost
the child cradled at your hip
is wringing her tiny hands
unable to look away to the camera
she is only four
but she recognizes the devil
on your lips
acres and acres of your life
hang from the top rails
inside the tobacco barn
this was supposed to be a victory photo
so you allow yourself the pleasure
of a special blend
savoring the raw strength
of its unknown toxins
next to you
in my father’s arms
my entire hand gripping the expanse
of his thumb
I am fully focused
on the mysterious blinking eye
— Frank X Walker
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