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Published on: 9/14/2007
Last Visited: 11/29/2007
NICHOLASVILLE, KY â€" Billy C. Clark, noted author and poet, is the author of two books released by Wind Publications in August.Billy C. Clark, new releases
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In section two of the book, "Notes on To Find a Birdsong," Clark tells the fascinating story of his early life along the river and how it affected the genesis of this book.To Find a Birdsong first began to form in the mind of a boy of less than ten years of age as he ran his trap lines along the Big Sandy near Catlettsburg.The story neared its final form while Billy Clark was a student at the University of Kentucky in the 1950's.Now, after years of honing, as one might a long narrative poem, the story is ready for telling.This part of the book will be of considerable interest to teachers and students of literature and creative writing.Seldom, if ever, do students and teachers have the opportunity to read, study, and discuss the making of a book using the author's own words.
To Catch an Autumn is a collection of poems that reveal the author's knowledge of, and love for, the land and waters of his home.Born into poverty, Clark spent his boyhood fishing and trapping in the waters near the confluence of the Big Sandy and Ohio rivers.In the winter mornings before school he ran a trapline for muskrat and mink.In the summers he ran trotlines and sold fish and bait for meager earnings.He slept under the stars, in fodder shocks, or in the city building in downtown Catlettsburg where he held a part-time job.His parents had attended grade school for only a couple of yearsâ€"his abiding dream was to obtain an education.
To Catch an Autumn tells of a boy listening for the ghosts of miners, their wails in the night and the rattling of bones.Trotlines, joe boats, moon-eyed hounds, double-bottom plows, rocky hillsides, and Big Sandy baptizingsâ€"Clark has known them all.In these poems Clark expresses his gratitude and sorrow at having known a time when the sky held no vapor trails, a time before the river sand was flecked with coal, when no film of oil colored the water's surface and the mountainsides were green with virgin timber.In To Catch an Autumn we are privileged to see the land and water through the eyes and words of Billy Clark.
To Find a Birdsong, ISBN 978-1-893239-60-9, hardcover, 97 ppg, $20.00. http://windpub.com/books/birdsong.htm
To Catch an Autumn, ISBN 978-1-893239-61-6, softcover, 76 ppg, $15.00. http://windpub.com/books/catchautumn.htm
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