Alabama Album

Collected Poems

Title Details

Pages: 144

Trim size: 5.500in x 8.500in

Formats

Paperback

Pub Date: 09/01/2016

ISBN: 9-781-6030-6405-7

List Price: $20.00

eBook

Pub Date: 09/01/2016

ISBN: 9-781-6030-6406-4

List Price: $9.99

Imprint

NewSouth Books

Related Subjects

POETRY / General

Alabama Album

Collected Poems

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  • Description
  • Reviews
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.
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

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

—Bettye K. Wray, poet, editor of PN Magazine

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 PhD, University of Alabama in Huntsville

About the Author/Editor

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.