Book Review: My People Was Music, Part Two of Interview with Poet Kirk Judd

Continuing the interview with poet Kirk Judd, whose new book, My People Was Music, was published last month by Mountain State Press. In this part, we discuss his poems about the loss of special people in his life, selecting works for the book, politics and poetry, mentors, and more.

Several of your poems are tributes to friends that have passed on. These are deeply personal, and yet resonate with me and probably every other reader who has experienced loss. The poem about Joe Barrett is particularly rich. Would you tell me more about Joe, and about this poem? Do you think death is a more frequent theme in Appalachian writing than in the work of writers from other regions (and if so, why?

As I have always told students in my workshops and creative writing classes, the more personal you can make your work, the more universal it will be.  Your audience will understand.  Human animals all have the same experiences.  Death is one of the tough ones.  I’m not sure it is more prevalent in Appalachian writing compared to other regions, but it probably is more poignant and dramatic.  The circumstances of death (to play on a Barbara Smith title) here are many, varied, and oftentimes public.   The hard part about it is bringing it back each time you present it.  It is not as easy as it looks.  Even in the overall Appalachian agrarian society, where we recognize and understand the seasonal cycle of death and rebirth, we struggle with the loss of loved ones.

Joe Barrett was a brilliant poet from Richwood, WV.  He and his wife Joan were very close friends to me.  The poem is completely true.  Joe and I made some sort of connection.  He had attempted suicide.  He struggled with what he thought was the bleakness of life on this planet.  I, on the other hand, saw things much differently.  Joe called me the optimist aboard the Lusitania.  But we had that connection, that spark of familiarity with something deep inside both of us.  Joe died in Lexington one night.  I had tried to call him that night, but no one answered the phone.   Ever.

Selecting works for this book must have been an interesting process. Can you tell me something about how you chose the poems included in My People, and about the photos you chose for the book?

Well, it was a process, but maybe not so interesting.  I wanted to have a full collected and new works project, with a recording.  I was way overdue for a book.  My first two chapbooks were published in 1986 and 1996.  So I just went back through both of those and picked out some of what I wanted to reprint.  That made up just under half of what is in the new book.  Then I went through the good stuff I had done since 1996, and threw it in there. 

Sherrell Wigal

 I worked on the arrangement a lot, with some much appreciated help from Sherrell Wigal.  I think it kinda/sorta makes sense.  The book starts with my WV heritage poems, moves into some nature poems, some life observation poems, some loss poems, and then some political poems, with some silly poems and other things scattered throughout.  I think it tells a pretty good story of my poetic career. 

Click Play Song to hear Kirk and Sherrell perform "The Ground of Eden" in tandem.

I didn’t choose the photos.  Well, not all of them.  I knew I wanted Dave Lambert’s photographs in the book.  I think he is one of WV’s most talented photographers working today.  So I approached him about it, and he put some things together for us to look at.  I chose some, and he chose some.  I think the cover shot is excellent.  The printing doesn’t do the black and whites inside the book justice.  The prints are just magnificent shots.   I take a folder of the prints with me to readings/signings so folks can see.

What change, if any, do you see in your work as you grow older?

I’m much more patient with myself, and much more prone to edit carefully before I think of something as finished.  I pay particular attention to the craft of it.  It can be complicated.  Every sound and pause really needs to be considered.  I didn’t do that as a young poet.  I just laid it out there. 

View behind Kirk's camp

Some of your poems, like “Have They Now?” reflect the environmental issues in West Virginia both currently and in the past? Do you see yourself as political, or as an activist? Why write poems that address these issues?

My poem “The Campfires of the Hunters” was published many years ago in the “Activism in Appalachia” issue of “Now & Then” magazine.  Until then, I didn’t see myself as an activist, although I always spoke out against what I thought were unjust issues, especially environmental and exploitation issues.  West Virginia seems to have more than its share.  Maybe it is because we are isolated by geography and outcast by politics.  West Virginia was the only territory lost or won as a result of the civil war.  Its creation, always legally suspect, was more of a convenience for politicians and resource extraction businessmen than it was a product of a good governance decision.  West Virginia is the youngest state and has the highest average elevation of any state east of the Mississippi.   Important things, like rivers carrying water down both sides of the Eastern Continental Divide, start here.  Although the industries and politics of the state don’t seem to care, I believe we as a people care deeply about what we have here, and we fight (losing mostly) to preserve it.  How can we not create poems, songs, stories, art, music, dance that address these issues?  How else can we tell ‘em what we think?

Who would you name as your mentors, and who has most influenced your writing?

Louise McNeill, Shirley Young Campbell, Muriel Dressler, Boyd Carr, Sherman Hammons, Maggie Hammons Parker, Jim Wayne Miller, Bob Snyder, Michael Pauley and Joe Barrett were among my mentors.  There are others.  I was extremely lucky to have John McKernan as a creative writing teacher at Marshall University, and to be included in the Guyandotte Poets group along with John, Bill and Ruth Sullivan, Llewellyn McKernan, and Bob Gerke.  Being a part of that group certainly shaped and sharpened me as a serious poet. The Bing Brothers and the tremendous community of WV musicians have had a great influence on me.  Louise McNeill and Sherman and Maggie Hammons have been my greatest influences.

Your latest book is actually a book/cd combination titled My People Was Music. Do you have any other publications still in print or available for sale? Where might readers find more information about you and your work? Do you have anything new in the works yet—I know My People was just published, but wondered if you had any other projects on the fire.

I have published two other chapbooks of poetry “Field of Vision” Aegina Press 1986, and “Tao-Billy” Trillium Press 1996.  Both are out of print, but I think some are available on Amazon or through other online book sellers.   I also co-edited, with Barbara Smith, the anthology “Wild, Sweet Notes – Fifty Years of West Virginia Poetry”.  That is still in print and available everywhere.

I don’t know where readers might find more information about me.   Being a WV poet doesn’t exactly make you famous.

Nothing new in the works poetry-wise.  I am on the Board of the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace foundation in Pocahontas County and we are working to get Pearl’s original manuscript collection, which has been behind closed doors for 42 years, out into the public.  And of course I am continuing my work with Allegheny Echoes and my relationship with West Virginia Writers, Inc.

Do you have any book signings/readings scheduled? If so, when and where?

Yes, thanks for asking.  I will be in Morgantown,WV at the MAC for Morgantown Poets on July 17^th, at Taylor Books in Charleston, WV at Noon on July 19^th, at Empire Books in Huntington, WV at 4pm on July 19^th, at the Lewisburg WV Literary Festival August 1^st and 2^nd (times tbd), the Marlinton WV Library on September 12^th (time tbd) and at the Clarksburg WV Library for National Poetry Month in April of 2015 (time and date tbd).

I’m also working on readings/signings in Beckley, Parkersburg, Wheeling and Berkeley Springs.  I’ll be happy to go anywhere anytime if anyone knows of any other opportunities.

Oh, and listen for cuts from the CD to be played on the Whiskey Wednesday weekly radio show on East Nashville Radio, and on WVMR Mountain Radio (Allegheny Mountain Radio) in Frost, WV.

Thanks for the opportunity to talk with you!  I do appreciate it.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Book Review: My People Was Music by Kirk Judd

West Virginia poet Kirk Judd's latest collection of poems, My People Was Music, was published by Mountain State Press. He will be presenting from his work at two events this week, and at many others in the months to come (see dates at times at the end of this post). Those who attend will find that rather than reading his poems, Judd recites them from memory--he is that close to his work and his words, and for listeners it is a memorable experience. He gives voice to the mountains and her people, to her music and traditions in compelling lines that resonate with the language of his home.

Kirk graciously agreed to be interviewed for this blog, and we covered so much ground that I will be presenting the interview in two posts. You may want to begin by listening to his poem, The High Country Remembers Her Heritage, which most people call by its first line, My People Was Music.

Play Song

High Country is a perfect introduction to Kirk and his work. Here is the first part of our conversation:

First, tell me a little about yourself: where you’re from, and maybe a bit about your West Virginia roots. How did your people come to live in West Virginia?

I am from Huntington, in Wayne County.  Most folks think of Huntington as being Cabell County, and it mostly is, but there is a little part, called Westmoreland, of the city that is in Wayne County.  I’m from there.  I grew up about 2 blocks from the Ohio River and about a mile from Camden Park.  My family is from Eastern Kentucky.  My parents moved to Westmoreland from Ashland, KY because my Father’s job moved there.  I am the first generation born in WV, but my Appalachian roots are deep.  Both sides of my family have been here (mostly in Kentucky and Virginia) for many generations, going back to the Revolutionary and French and Indian Wars.

You don’t “look” like the stereotypical poet: no beret or black clothing! And I know your work history would not make me think immediately of a poet. Tell me about that history and what it brings to your writing.

My “poet clothes”, as Sherrell Wigal calls them, are bibbed overalls.  I’ve been wearing them since high school.  I worked for 23 years at the Ashland Works of ARMCO Steel, now AK Steel.  It was a fully integrated mill, working 24x7 year-round, with over 4000 employees.  It was like a little, self-contained town.  I then worked for 1 year at the Wastewater Treatment facility for the City of Huntington, 7 years for Special Metals (INCO Alloys) in Huntington, and 11 years for Lockheed Martin, starting at the FBI Fingerprint Facility in Clarksburg, WV and winding up with offices in Rockville, MD, Gaithersburg, MD and King of Prussia, PA.  I travelled a lot during the last several years I worked for LM.   I think the fact that I was working out in the world, and experiencing things outside the academic world, lends a certain perspective to my work. 

Your style of presenting your poetry is unique, I think. You don’t read it, you recite it, and you often have a musician playing as you perform. Can you talk about how you came to this style, and what impact you think the music has on the performance of your work?

I was brought to poetry, or poetry was brought to me, like many of us, through the sound of it.  Nursery rhymes, children’s books, fairy tales, etc.  Stevenson’s “A Child’s Garden of Verses” was a particular favorite.  Those all live in your ear, not on the page.  So I’ve always known that poetry is an oral tradition, not exclusively a literary one.  Poetry is meant to be heard.  I believe the only way to convey a poem is to give it everything you put into it.  When you present it, you have to be in the same place you were when you created it.  You really have to mean it.  That ain’t easy.  Especially when, as most poets do, you have a deep, personal connection with the poem.  You have to use all your skill as a presenter to translate that connection to the listener.  That’s not reading a grocery list.  That’s performance. Music is just a natural fit.  I think most of us have a sound track to our lives running in our head.  If we don’t, we would like to.  I think I’m very lucky to have the natural rhythms of the Appalachian speech patterns in my voice.  It fits so naturally with music, especially traditional music of the region, that it always sounds good together.  I don’t write with the performance of music in mind (although I have written a couple of songs), and I don’t recite my poems with the music.  I can’t listen to the musicians when we are performing together, and they can’t listen to me.  It is just two art forms being performed at the same time, so I’m not sure the music has any effect on the performance of my work.  I do it the same way with or without music.  But it sure is neat when it works, and it always works.  I’m not sure I’ve figured out exactly why it does, but I like it.

I would like to say a word about the musicians on the CD.  They are so good, and so giving of themselves.  It was a complete joy to work with them.  I started putting my poetry together with music 35 years ago, and it has been a pleasure for me to perform with many great musicians over the years.  The folks on the CD - Mike Bing, Tim Bing, Danny Arthur, Bob Shank, Dave Bing, and Pops Walker, have generously given of their extraordinary talent to make this recording with me.  Their touch and timing is incredible.  It was, and is always, magic.  I can’t thank them enough.  And the same goes for Sherrell Wigal, who does a dual-voice piece with me on the CD.  She is a great poet and performer in her own right, and I am indebted to her for agreeing to be a part of this.

Your poems reflect your deep connection to the mountains, people and culture of West Virginia. Talk a little bit about that and how the way of life in this state impacts you as a poet. Why do you think West Virginia/Appalachian cultures should still be written about, considered, remembered?

I am a West Virginian.   West Virginians are connected to this state in ways that are sometimes hard to explain, but always have been apparent.  The whole State is pretty much a small town, and we care for ourselves, our neighbors, our land, and our culture in ways larger and more diverse states can’t envision.  We are who we choose to be.  We choose to be here.  And most of us have been here a long time.  I believe we are loyal to our roots, and we understand the value of honoring tradition and folk ways.  From the beginning of time, we as human beings have forgotten as much or more knowledge than we’ve gained.  There are some things we should not lose, and I think one of the jobs of an artist is to help us remember.  I fell in love with the high mountains of WV years ago.  They didn’t get exploited until the 1920’s, when the technology of the Shay engine enabled the timber industry to get the big trees out.  Until then, it was pretty much an unspoiled, forgotten wilderness left here in the middle of the bustling industry of the rest of the nation.  I was lucky enough to get to know the Hammons family of Pocahontas County, who were here long before any “progress” made inroads.  They really were pioneers, with stories, songs, music and culture from another way of life, and I could talk to them!   I understood immediately that I was seeing, hearing and experiencing valuable things that were going to be lost.   So I write and tell stories about it. That type of preservation is still taking place in WV and other parts of Appalachia.  We should not lose what we have a chance to keep.

Let's end today's post with another poem by Kirk Judd:

A Small Glow

Sometimes...
            Sometimes
There is a small glow,
Just visible,
Just there
Around your granddaughter's smile,
The bunting on the fencepost,
Your wife's shoulder,
That apple in that basket,
The whole damned mountain in September.

You can see it...
             YOU can see it
Because your mother taught you-
Look.
Look at everything.
And then
            Look a little more.

Author Meredith Sue Willis had this to say about Kirk's work: "Perhaps my favorite thing about this book, however, is that it comes with a cd recording of Judd performing his works with a number of well known musicians and once with a mountain clogger. He also collaborates with one of his poems and a friend's poem. All this is wonderfully communal, poems brought to vigorous life with his strong, flexible voice carrying us on, lifting us up. Kirk Judd's performance poetry is a national treasure." Read the whole review here.

Come back tomorrow for the conclusion of our interview. To hear and see Kirk Judd in person, plan to attend one of his upcoming events: 

Morgantown, WV: Morgantown Arts Center for Morgantown Poets on July 17 at 7:00pm
Taylor Books in Charleston, WV at Noon on July 19^th, 
Empire Books in Huntington, WV at 4pm on July 19^th 
Lewisburg, WV Literary Festival August 1^st and 2^nd (times tbd), 
Marlinton, WV Library on September 12^th (time tbd)
Clarksburg, WV Library for National Poetry Month in April of 2015 (time and date tbd).

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.