Alabama Album: Collected Poems

by Helen F. Blackshear

Overview

Helen Blackshear’s poems are about the simple things we all share—a love of family, childhood memories, enjoyment of trees and gardens, the pleasures of friendship, and the dark days of loneliness and loss. She said the poems in this collection were her autobiography, written over a period of sixty years of a fully lived life. Some of her poems inspire laughter, while others reflect the grief she both witnessed and felt. Her love of history resonates in poems about the Creek Indians, the Civil War, and conflicts in the modern world. From the myriad of experiences that inspired them, her poems touch the hearts of readers of all ages.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781603064057
Publisher:	University of Georgia Press
Publication date:	09/01/2016
Pages:	144
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.34(d)

About the Author

HELEN F. BLACKSHEAR served from 1995 to 1999 as Alabama’s eighth poet laureate. A native and present resident of Tuscaloosa, she lived in Montgomery from 1934 to 2003. She has three daughters, eight grandchildren, and fourteen great-grandchildren. A graduate of Agnes Scott College, she also has an M.A. from the University of Alabama. She is the author of Mother Was a Rebel, Southern Smorgasbord, Creek Captives, Alabama Album, Silver Songs and From Peddler to Philanthropist: The Friedman Story. She also edited These I Would Keep, an anthology of poems by Alabama’s first through ninth poet laureates. She has served as treasurer and vice-president of the Alabama Poetry Society and as president of the Alabama Writers’ Conclave. She was Poet of the Year in 1986 and received the Distinguished Service Award from the Conclave in 1987.

HELEN F. BLACKSHEAR served from 1995 to 1999 as Alabama’s eighth poet laureate. A native and present resident of Tuscaloosa, she lived in Montgomery from 1934 to 2003. She has three daughters, eight grandchildren, and fourteen great-grandchildren. A graduate of Agnes Scott College, she also has an M.A. from the University of Alabama. She is the author of Mother Was a Rebel, Southern Smorgasbord, Creek Captives, Alabama Album, Silver Songs and From Peddler to Philanthropist: The Friedman Story. She also edited These I Would Keep, an anthology of poems by Alabama’s first through ninth poet laureates. She has served as treasurer and vice-president of the Alabama Poetry Society and as president of the Alabama Writers’ Conclave. She was Poet of the Year in 1986 and received the Distinguished Service Award from the Conclave in 1987.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments / iv
Editor's Note / xi
Poems of Remembrance
Crazy Quilt of Memories / 3
To a Zig-Zag Fence / 5
On Leaving College / 6
Reunion / 7
Miss Rose / 8
Cotton Gin / 9
Grandma's Well House / 10
House Proud / 11
Lace Curtains / 12
Train Whistles / 13
Storms / 14
To a Dean Grown Old / 15
Log Cabin / 17
Barn Raising / 18
Estate Sale / 19
Epitaph / 21
Hill Woman / 22
Turn of the Wheel / 23
Flight Pattern / 24
Beauty Shop / 25
For an Old Friend / 26
Teachers' Lounge / 27
A Teacher's Prayer / 29
Virginia Avenue / 30
The Visit / 31
Cats / 33
Compensation / 34
Heritage / 35
Nutty Nuggets from the News
Wild Week at Windsor / 39
When the Devil Came to Texas / 40
The Horse That Went to Sea / 42
The Cat That Went to Court / 44
Striptease on I-95 / 46
Quick Fix / 47
Swedes Arrest Smuggler / 48
Crackdown on Animal Crackers / 49
Freddie the Fickle Falcon / 50
Ma Nature Takes a Twist / 51
Christmas Tunes from the Internet / 52
Ads You See on Late Night TV / 53
Poems of Woods and Water
Ninji Kudzu Trap / 57
The Bonding / 58
Earth Bound / 59
The Burning Hills / 60
The Cutting / 61
Mountain Laurel Summer / 62
Etudes for Autumn / 63
Spoor of the Beast / 65
Sturmfreid / 66
Whisper the News / 67
On Choctowhatchee Bay / 68
Florida Clearing / 69
Condo by the Sea / 70
Time Warp / 71
Bayou Sunset / 72
Land Bound / 73
Iowa Sky / 74
The Runners / 75
Lazy Gardener / 76
The Watchers / 77
View from the Hill / 78
Journeying / 79
Love Letter from Down Under / 80
Wood Spell / 81
Bequest / 82
Historical Poems
In the Archives / 85
Creek Princess / 86
The Exiles / 88
Muscogee Legacy / 89
Migrants / 90
On Vicksburg Hill / 91
At Gettysburg / 92
Search and Destroy / 93
When the Bough Breaks / 94
Jewish Cemetery: Warsaw 1945 / 95
In Tiananmen Square, June 4, 1989 / 96
Morning News / 97
Dedication / 99
On a Distant Shore / 101
In a Deeper Vein
Midwife / 105
Ballade for an Aging Widow / 106
True Beauty / 108
Shell / 109
Mother and Child / 110
Captive / 111
On Reading Poetry in a Nursing Home / 112
For a Tranquil Spirit / 113
Christmas Eve in the Hospital / 114
A Christmas Prayer / 116
The Heart's Dark Places / 117
Anniversary / 118
The Intruder / 119
Fire Builder / 120
The Hardware Store / 121
The Healing / 122
Before I Sleep / 123
My Living Will / 124
Dialogue with Death / 125
"What Dreams May Come" / 126

About the Author / 127

Editorial Reviews

Her 'Firebuilder' beats Robert Frost's 'The Wood Pile' hands down, and in the 14 lines of 'Beauty Shop' she covered everything it took Steel Magnolias two hours to say . . . a splendid collection.

Tom Fitzpatrick Jr.

Her poetry is deeply moving and evocative. She writes of daily life, of everyday happenings . . . There is a connection here that only gardeners know, lovers of plants and the earth.

Reese Kilgo PhD

In a world where so many are 'writing poetry,' she is, indeed, one of our real poets.

editor of PN Magazine - Bettye K. Wray

Helen Blackshear is a tolerant person, a person of mirth and depth . . . Her poetry is her autobiography, and she leaves a legacy to our culture.

Ann Moon Rabb

Her selection as Poet Laureate is a deserved honor for one of Alabama's finest writers, as well as one of our finest promoters for the use of poetry.

Virginia Farnell

In a world where so many are 'writing poetry,' she is, indeed, one of our real poets.

editor of PN Magazine

Her 'Firebuilder' beats Robert Frost's 'The Wood Pile' hands down, and in the 14 lines of 'Beauty Shop' she covered everything it took Steel Magnolias two hours to say . . . a splendid collection. — Tom Fitzpatrick Jr.

Her selection as Poet Laureate is a deserved honor for one of Alabama's finest writers, as well as one of our finest promoters for the use of poetry. — Virginia Farnell, Alabama Writers' Conclave

Helen Blackshear is a tolerant person, a person of mirth and depth . . . Her poetry is her autobiography, and she leaves a legacy to our culture. — Ann Moon Rabb, Alabama Writers' Conclave

Her poetry is deeply moving and evocative. She writes of daily life, of everyday happenings . . . There is a connection here that only gardeners know, lovers of plants and the earth. — Reese Kilgo Ph.D., University of Alabama in Huntsville

In a world where so many are 'writing poetry,' she is, indeed, one of our real poets. — Bettye K. Wray, poet and editor of PN Magazine

I pasted a copy of her poem "Reunion" in the front of my old 1939 Huntingdon yearbook. I still get teary-eyed when I read it. What a splendid choice for Poet Laureate the powers that be made! — Kathryn Tucker Windham

From the Publisher