“Reckoning with the Past: The Historical Poetry of Frank X Walker” by Kristine Yohe

In the introduction to her book, Reckoning with the Past (U of Kentucky 2025), Yohe identifies the five poetry collections by Frank X Walker on which her research is focused. She selected these collections containing historical persona poems as vantage points from which readers can “interrogate a cultural and national past.” She describes persona poems as poets’ imagining of the thoughts and feelings of another person. In the historical persona poem, the subject is a person who lived in the past and whose response to experiences in history the poet attempts to imagine based on what the poet knows of that subject and what happened to him or her.

Three of those five poetry collections—Buffalo Dance, The Journey of York; When Winter Come, The Ascension of York; and Watkuweis Rides Shotgun, The Transformation of York—are especially likely to strike a vibrant chord with readers interested in the famous Lewis and Clark expedition. It was charged by President Thomas Jefferson to discover whether there was a relatively easy means of establishing a trade route to the Pacific Ocean—a journey wonderfully presented in Bernard DeVoto’s The Journals of Rogers and Clark. The journals are especially intriguing in regard to historic treatment of York, an enslaved man and the only African American participating in the expedition.

York, the only name by which he is referred to in the entries, apparently contributed a great deal to the expedition through his skill in shooting game for the men and his strength in helping with such difficult tasks as portaging the expeditionary boats across land in situations where the river wasn’t navigable. The journal entries suggest that, perhaps as a consequence of his prowess, he was treated with a respect far greater than that accorded him back home in Virginia. Due to his service on the expedition, York hoped to be freed by Clark after their journey ended. Clark had different plans, however, and angered by the man’s “insolence,” beat him. At any rate, he refused to free him for a number of years, though Clark told Washington Irving that some years after the expedition, he did free York. However, credible documentation concerning York’s life after the expedition is lacking.

Several years after the expedition ended, a white trapper reported that he met York in Missouri and that York lived contentedly in a Native American village, had more than one wife, and was treated as a chief.

This account may be more tall tale than true story; however, it is in keeping with the great interest, even awe, York inspired in members of the different tribes encountered during the expedition. These northwestern tribes had never seen a Black person before and were fascinated by his looks as well as his skills.

In Watkuweis Rides Shotgun, The Transformation of York, Walker takes a different approach than in the earlier two York collections. Yohe notes that he uses magic realism to suggest what some might hope for York or anyone: freedom and life with people he loves and who love him. She describes the persona poems in this collection as mythic. In it, York combines African-American and Native American belief. It perhaps reflects the ways and hopes of both cultures. As Yohe notes, this poetry of transformation, recognizes and illustrates York’s merging of African American and Native American values in creating a full life for himself far away from where he was enslaved.

 Isaac Murphy, I Dedicate this Ride, Walker’s collection published in 2021, is likely to interest many Kentuckians who either follow the Kentucky Derby races with interest, this year, as the owner of Golden Tempo is the first female owner of a Derby winner.

Although Isaac Murphy won more Kentucky Derby’s than any other jockey, he was pretty much lost to history until a few years ago, and it may also be news to readers that, as Yohe points out, there were many African American jockeys in the early days of the Derby—that is until white owners of the horses and white jockeys began refusing to compete with against horses ridden by African American jockeys. Walker’s poems give much attention to Murphy’s childhood and youth, demonstrating his dedication to riding and was dramatized in at least one Kentucky high school as well as on Kentucky Educational Television (KET) as a children’s play.

 Turn Me Loose, The Unghosting of Medgar Evers, published in 2013, is based on the life and murder of a civil rights leader from Mississippi who was shot and killed in 1963 and whose murderer was not convicted until 1994, thirty years later. Edgar’s death motivated thousands of people, including Martin Luther King, Jr., to join in his funeral procession.

In this historical persona poetry collection, Yohe notes the importance of the fact that Walker features poems reflecting not Medgar Evers’ voice, but those of his first and second wives, and the voice of Evers’ murderer. In taking the approach of devoting persona poetry to the murderer’s perspective, she proposes that much can be achieved:

Walker demonstrates that seeking to understand even the villains can result in more complete historical knowledge, a necessary precursor for healing. Walker’s approach in Turn Me Loose differs from what he does in his earlier historical persona poetry because of the horror of Medgar Evers’ violent death; while all his books engage with the racist oppression experienced by their protagonists, only this one considers the inner life of a white supremist assassin.

Had the poet included less diverse views, he would’ve missed in Yohe’s opinion, a greater opportunity for both healing and positive change in race relations. Offering this creative attention to violence and injustice is a unique “unghosting” of a Black activist who was martyred.

One of the striking elements of Yohe’s literary project is providing the literary and historical context of Walker’s work, identifying other Black writers whose work also reckoned with the past. Names of familiar poets—Phyllis Wheatley, James Weldon Johnson, and Lucille Clifton—enter the discussion, as do names of less familiar poets and scholars. This ambitious project successfully offers a depth and breadth that will be highly valuable to scholars of many fields—American history, Appalachian history, African American studies, and the study of English literature. At the same time, it is readable and of great use to writers and dedicated readers of poetry in its discussion of methods used by Walker in reckoning with the past and promoting new ways of thinking about race and achieving true equality in the future.

This book touches more bases in more depth than might seem possible in a book of 215 pages, including the index. It achieves much more than providing insight and context to five of Frank X Walker’s poetry collections. It provides a historical context to the impetus and influences behind Walker’s methods and purposes.

Kristine Yohe

Kristine Yohe is professor of English at Northern Kentucky University and serves as a board member for the Toni Morrison Society. Her teaching and scholarship focus on Black American literature, especially the Affrilachian Poets collective.