"Poetry II" edited by Lillie D. Chaffin--Book Review

Lillie D. Chaffin served as the editor of this little pamphlet of 23 pages and was a Kentucky Poet Laureate and a literature award in the name of her and her husband is still being awarded by Morehead State University.  She was the author of several chap books and the Appalachian children's book "We Be Warm Till Springtime Comes", which is one of my favorites in all of Appalachian Literature.  This book we are discussing here was published under the name of Poetry Press, Pikeville, Kentucky, and I suspect was only issued in a small number of copies, most likely less than 1,000.  It also may very well have been self-published in some cooperative arrangement by the poets included.  It will be difficult to locate if you decide you want to try to find a copy.  I bought it in a pile of rare Appalachian books and pamphlets out of a partial estate a friend of mine bought in Morgan County Kentucky.  The stated theme of the poetry is "Marriage" which is not in the title on the cover but is on the inside cover as a part of the publication information.  

The only poet of any note besides Lillie D. Chaffin to be included is Jane Stuart, the daughter of Jesse Stuart.  In my estimation, her poem is not particularly good.  The list of other poets includes Mildred Williams Boggs, Camella Joy Schreyer Thompson, Lois Duncan, Rae Cross, Jan Faires, Frederika Blankner, Jan Seale, Lena Winston, Lyn Lifshin, Thelma Scott Kiser, Phyllis Maples, Travis, Du Priest, Nell Abbott, Mary Newton Baldwin, Florence Holmes Ryan, L. R. Wagner, Fred W. Wright Jr., and Harry Brown.  I always try to include a full author list when I locate and write about these small edition books and pamphlets since it is sometimes possible that surviving family members of authors will not even know that the writing by their family member ever saw print.  If you turn out to be one of those people with a connection to an author, I sincerely hope you locate a copy.  

For me, the best poem in the book is "Discovery After Marriage" by Lois Duncan.  It is composed of four stanzas with a loose and irregular rhyming pattern which occurs in only part of the lines.  But it is well worth reading.  The first stanza reads: 

"I, who was never beautiful before you came,

I, who turned my face when loveliness passed by, 

Oh, suddenly there is nothing in the world as beautiful as I!"  

The poem then progresses through two more stanzas describing how a body "which has lain asleep so long...could be stirred to flame."  That is a good way to end a stanza about improved self image if I ever saw one.  

The fourth and concluding stanza reads:

"I am a silent bird who finds that it can sing.

I am a tree who stood all winter long with branches cold and bare

And now I wake, and it is spring."  

In my opinion, that is poetry worth reading.  If you find a copy of this little pamphlet somewhere, preserve it, read it, enjoy it, and pass it on to someone else with similar interests when you feel ready to die.  Or donate it to the special collections department of some Appalachian college library. 

"We Be Warm Til Springtime Comes" by Lillie D. Chaffin BOOK REVIEW

Until recently I had never read anything by Lillie D. Chaffin even though she was from Pikeville, KY, and had served as Kentucky's Poet Laureate in 1974.  She also has an Appalachian Literature award named for her at my Alma Mater, Morehead State University.  After having read her children's book, "We Be Warm Till Springtime Comes", I have to admit I had been remiss by not having read her work.  I strayed into the book during an expedition to a small antique store which a friend owns where I sometimes buy a few items for my personal collection.  On that trip, I bought a few books of Appalachian or Kentucky interest and "We Be Here..." was one of them.  It was published in 1980 by Macmillan and illustrated by Lloyd Bloom.  The copy I bought was in excellent condition with the dust jacket in nearly perfect shape, still contained the original poster of one of the illustrations by Bloom.  It also contained a signed letter and post card from Ms. Chaffin to the previous owner.  I would probably have bought the book even if it were not purely Appalachian.  

The book is intended for juvenile readers from about the third to sixth grade and is a most genuine Appalachian story about a poor family living in poverty in the mountains in the middle of a hard winter.  The family is composed of a mother, a son about ten years old, and a small daughter.  The family is facing an increasingly hard winter with no coal or wood to burn for heat.  The son makes a decision, over the mother's objections, to go to the coal bank on the hill behind their house to dig for coal to help them survive the winter.  This is one of the most genuine and authentic Appalachian stories I have ever read.  Although we never burned coal when I was a child, the family farm on which I was raised in Knott County Kentucky contained the remains of two coal banks where previous owners of the land had dug for what is known locally as "house coal".  

For those of you who have no knowledge of coal banks, they are small holes dug into a coal seam which is at or near the surface for purposes of gaining access to enough coal to heat a home and fire a cast iron cook stove or "step stove" as most of them were known. But after several years of digging, a coal bank might be as much as hundred feet deep inside a hillside.  Few of them ever had a solid roof and roof falls were numerous. I have never dug coal in a coal bank.  I was very lucky to have a family who lived somewhat above the level at which many of our neighbors did.  But I grew up with and went to school with several children, mostly boys, who had to dig house coal in order to facilitate family survival.  I went to high school with three children whose father whom I knew was killed accidentally by a mishandled charge of dynamite during an effort to obtain house coal from a coal bank.  

The inherent danger of digging in a coal bank combined with the hard winter and poverty work to make this a very tense book for a young reader.  But it is an excellent book for such readers at the same time since it focuses on the boy's self sufficiency, honor, and determination to help his mother and sister survive the winter.  His willingness to take a potentially fatal risk to assist his family is the heart of the story.  It is wonderful story and well worth reading.  I will take the time to find and read more of Lillie D. Chaffin's work and so should you.  

Lloyd Bloom's illustrations for the book appear to have been originally rendered in charcoal and present only a few shades of black, white, and grey.  In another setting, they might be considered a bit goth.  But they do an excellent job of increasing the tension of the book and stressing the dangerous potential of the effort.  Go online at a good used book site and find a copy.  You will enjoy this book a great deal.