When It Came Time

These poems piece together the narrative of an American family's wrenching migration from a long-evolved culture of farms and mines in Appalachia to an industrial city, where they become 'hillbillies' in the eyes of their urban neighbours. Geographically, the move is only two hundred miles, but in human terms the upheaval rivals that of the family's Celtic ancestors who made their way from Ulster and Wales to the New World colonies. Change, with its inevitable gains and losses, informs this journey from a backwoods legacy of the mule-drawn plough to the hustle of an anonymous assembly line. The poet draws on childhood sensibilities to explore the theme and to craft memory into language.

The Arrival	p. 1
When It Came Time	p. 2
Rails	p. 4
Lineage	p. 5
Miners' Morning	p. 6
A Country Childhood	p. 7
Journey	p. 8
My Mother's Guitar	p. 9
Sentinel	p. 10
The Night of No Talking	p. 11
Making Room	p. 12
Cherries and Choices	p. 13
A Fable for Rain	p. 14
First Christmas in the City	p. 15
On Mobility	p. 16
Piano Lessons	p. 17
Looking at Skulls	p. 18
Allies	p. 19
In Defense of Dark Woods	p. 20
Swinging Bridge	p. 21
The Porch	p. 22
On the Road with Betty Black	p. 23
Mabel	p. 24
Your Mother's Grandma	p. 25
She Who Waits	p. 26
To Grandma, Out of Place	p. 28
Dressing the Part	p. 29
The Make-over	p. 31
Father's Friend	p. 32
Machine Garden	p. 33
The Uncles: An Album	p. 34
Story Hour	p. 36
Surviving Sweetie Jackson	p. 37
The Sophisticates	p. 39
The Slug	p. 40
Old Things, Gone Things	p. 41
Book of Sunsets	p. 42
Housewife	p. 43
Six Strawberries	p. 44
Miss Rinehart's Paddle	p. 45
Meeting Geometry	p. 46
To Delbert, Fellow Inmate, Grade Six	p. 47
Garnetta	p. 48
Forgiving the History Teacher	p. 49
Inventing a Sister	p. 50
Father's Last Joke	p. 51
To a Pilot	p. 52
Leafing through the Album	p. 53
Horizon's Hold	p. 54
The Magpies of Dublin	p. 55
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