Load in Nine Times - Poems

For decades Frank X Walker has reclaimed essential American lives through his pathbreaking historical poetry. In this stirring new collection, he reimagines the experiences of Black Civil War soldiers-including his own ancestors-who enlisted in the Union army in exchange for emancipation.

Moving chronologically from antebellum Kentucky through Reconstruction, Walker braids the voices of the United States Colored Troops with their family members, as well as slave owners and prominent historical figures from Abraham Lincoln to Frederick Douglas and Margaret Garner. Imbued with atmospheric imagery, these persona poems and more "[clarify] not only the inextricable value of Black life and labor to the building of America, but the terrible price they were forced to pay in producing that labor" (Khadijah Queen). "How do you un-orphan a people?" Walker asks. "How do you pick up / shattered black porcelain and make / a new set of dishes fit to eat off?"

While carefully attuned to the heartbreak and horrors of war, Walker's poems pay equal care to the pride, perseverance, and triumphs of their speakers. Evoking the formerly enslaved General Charles Young, Walker hums: "I am America's promise, my mother's song, / and the reason my father had every right to dream." Expansive and intimate, Load in Nine Times is a resounding ode to the powerful ties of individual and cultural ancestry by an indelible voice in American poetry.

About the author

Frank X. Walker is the author of twelve poetry collections. He was named the 2013 Kentucky poet laureate and is cofounder of the Affrilachian Poets. He resides in Lexington, Kentucky.

Product details

• Authors: Frank X Walker, Walker Frank X.
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 18.08.2026
• EAN: 9781324098508
• ISBN: 978-1-324-09850-8
• Illustrations: 3 illustrations
• Subjects: Fiction > Poetry, drama; USA, Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900, Poetry, HISTORY / United States / Civil War Period (1850-1877), c 1800 to c 1900, Political activism, Warfare & defence, United States of America, USA, Warfare and defence, History of the Americas, POETRY / American / African American & Black, Political activism / Political engagement, POETRY / Subjects & Themes / War, POETRY / Subjects & Themes / Political & Protest, Poetry / Poems