Last Will, Last Testament

Poetry April 2019 ISBN 978-1-936628-49-0 72 pages Softcover, 6" x 9"

"In his latest collection, Last Will, Last Testament, Frank X Walker turns the same unflinching gaze he's committed to historic figures now towards his own lineage. As these poems bear witness in real time to his father's last breaths even as his new son takes his first, Walker
serves again as the linchpin between generations. Ever a master distiller of the heart, Walker presents us with, arguably, his most complex elixir to date, best imbibed with no chaser."—Bianca Lynne Spriggs

family

From the Book

Hoofers

Catching up with the three of us
was less awkward than the slow dance
the two of us have done
for fifty years.
Maybe because the music was different.

Instead of the slow, heart-aching
waiting-for-you-to-say
'I love You' ballads
that always play
in the movie version of us,
the air is filled
with lyrics to children's songs.

You stare at a brand-new grandson
with a wide grin,
perhaps looking for
your trademark eyes
and wry smile.

I stare at you and imagine
you're looking back at me,
across time,
barely two months old,
tiny hands still learning to grip,
choosing to smile
at dance partners
by the amount of light in their eyes.

We drove a long way to make sure this moment happened.

I waited even longer to be sure I'd seen it before.

What Others Say

In his latest collection, Last Will, Last Testament, Frank X Walker turns the same unflinching gaze he's committed to historic figures now towards his own lineage. As these poems bear witness in real time to his father's last breaths even as his new son takes his first, Walker serves again as the linchpin between generations. Ever a master distiller of the heart, Walker presents us with, arguably, his most complex elixir to date, best imbibed with no chaser.

— Bianca Lynne Spriggs

Through rare intimacy, Frank X Walker takes us to the literal intersection of life and death: As his father dies, a son is born. With Walker "at the fulcrum, trying to balance them both," we feel the weight of old and new "unblended families" and ride the contours of male longing, grief, and hope. Trusting a mature poet's candor and control, Walker shows us the inseparability of love from sorrow, of future from past, of father from son.

— Neil Chethik

About the Author

Frank X Walker

Multidisciplinary artist and educator, Frank X Walker, is the first African American writer to be named Kentucky Poet Laureate. He is the author of the children's book, A is for Affrilachia, and eleven collections of poetry, including Turn Me Loose: The Unghosting of Medgar Evers, which was awarded the NAACP Image Award for Poetry and the Black Caucus American Library Association Honor Award. Voted one of the most creative professors in the south, Walker coined the term "Affrilachia" and co-founded the Affrilachian Poets. He serves as Professor of Creative Writing and African American and Africana Studies at the University of Kentucky.