Walking With a Ghost
The third release by Third Man Books — the publishing arm of Jack White’s record company — is Hidden Water: From the Frank Stanford Archives. Frank Stanford, the mythic “swamprat” poet who penned at least 10 books before taking his life (with not one but three gunshots to the heart), did most of his work in rural Arkansas. His poems, often populated by deeply Southern characters, hum with the bass lines of murder ballads — his moon is “a dead man floating down the river” — but the mayhem is tallied against the young poet’s capacity for quiet attention and love: “She was thin / And she made me think / Of music singing to itself.” Hidden Water — a perfect companion to this year’s massive compendium from Copper Canyon Press — traces the sinuous lines of Stanford’s mind through unpublished poems, drafts, rare photos, a rarer recording of Stanford’s voice, and letters between himself and better known fellows. Stanford’s editor Chet Weise will read excerpts, and the showcase also features Third Man poets Paige Taggart, Janaka Stucky, and Sampson Starkweather, who is celebrating the impending release of his volume PAIN: The Board Game.
415-362-8193
