Black Poet Reads from New Collection Honoring York

Even if poetry normally is not your thing, make sure you attend the upcoming free readings from award-winning author Frank X. Walker at 7 p.m., Saturday, February 16, at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center in Great Falls. It is Walker’s only reading in Montana.

Captain William Clark’s manservant comes to life through Walker, and English professor from Northern Kentucky University.

Montana author Debra Magpie Earling (author of Perma Red) had this to say about Walker’s latest book: “… Walker has tapped into the true voice of York and conjured him on the page. This is not just a book of poems – this is a book of spirits and shimmering apparitions.”

Walker’s third time reading at the Interpretive Center in Great Falls commemorates Black History Month. His previous visits demonstrated his command of the history and the vocabulary of this historical character, York. Walker’s style – alone on stage with only his words – is captivating. He transforms into York the slave, York the husband, York the hero.

York, childhood playmate and adult manservant to Captain William Clark, was the only black man among the exploring party 200 years ago. He accompanied his master on the journey west, serving his needs and experiencing both the hardships and wonders along the trail.

Walker takes the audience into York’s heart and soul. His first book about York, Buffalo Dance: the Journey of York (University of Kentucky Press (2003), won the 35th Annual Lillian Smith Book Award in 2004; and it was a BookSense 76 Spring 2004 Top 10 Poetry Book.

When Winter Come: The Ascension of York, his latest collection about York, picks up where Buffalo Dance left off. In it, Walker presents views of York from the perspective of others who knew him – his wife, a Nez Perce lover, his captains, and more.

Even inanimate objects, like York’s personal knife, hatchet and hunting shirt have something to say about the man through Walker’s poetry. In all, When Winter Come reveals York’s persona using more than 10 voices.

Walker will read from both books at 7 p.m., February 16, in the Interpretive Center Theater. He will sign copies at a reception following the reading. Light refreshments will be served. All events are free and sponsored by the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Association and Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center Foundation. However, donations for the programming or canned goods for the Great Falls Community Food Bank are appreciated.

Walker noted the first book was difficult. “After several months and a foot-tall stack of rewrites, and after I felt like I was really comfortable with his [York’s] voice, he would just push me out of the way and have his say. I never felt like I was speaking for York, but was attempting to accurately translate and transcribe what I felt like he was saying to me and to people who don’t know his story.”

Although Walker’s work is a fictionalized account of York’s journey, Walker believes his poems reveal York’s thoughts, dreams, hopes, and fears.

Both books are available through the Interpretive Center bookstore.

For a sense of the power of Walker’s words and voice, listen to an excerpt from a reading he did in November 2006 at the Lannan Foundation, by going to
http://www.lannan.org/lf/rc/event/cave-canem-evening/
and choosing the Frank X. Walker reading.

You can also hear Walker from an appearance he made on Bob Edwards’ satellite radio show three years ago by going to

Although good, you really need to hear Walker read his poetry about York live, and you can do that only at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center.

Information about more programs at the Interpretive Center is available at http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/lewisclark/lcic