Publisher's Synopsis
THE SOUND OF ONE TREE FALLING: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS by Llewellyn McKernan is an example of the kind of lyrical work that poet laureate Fred Chappell has described as being both in the world and of the world. In the foreword to this collection, Chappell writes that McKernan's poetic talent "makes use of both sides of this paradox" and "joins the worldly and the unworldly by fusing them together with complementary kinds of metaphor. To see her at work here is something like watching an arc welder annealing together two different kinds of metal." The poet herself explains in her introduction that she intends her poems to reflect on and illuminate several themes that emerge from her lifespan in rural America. McKernan's writing specifically addresses these themes: "That pure simple life ... sustained by perseverance and hard, dirty work," "the kind of strange beauty that at times can be found in the evangelical religious experience," "joy and sorrow in the intense bonds formed by close-knit extended families," and "deep respect for unschooled wisdom." Traversing her transplantation, from her childhood in Arkansas to an academic life in West Virginia, McKernan says her poems soak up the geography surrounding her--in particular, "the Appalachian landscape I love and cherish. It appears often in my poems, especially its creeks, rivers, and streams. These reoccurring images are frequently subject, symbol, or natural detail." Llewellyn McKernan has a voice and a vision that know both past and present. "We had experiences that were common to our generation," she writes, "that brought us together in poems." In THE SOUND OF ONE TREE FALLING, the legacy inherent in the writing belongs not only to the poet but to the reader, as well. (108 pages. www.MotesBooks.com)
