The River Remembers: A Verse Cycle of Frankfort, Kentucky - by Larry W. Moore

Publication Date: January 1, 2017
Paperback, 80 pages
ISBN: 978-1-937968-32-8

For more than 200 years, the small city (and state capital) of Frankfort, Kentucky has nestled in a valley formed by the Kentucky River. In this verse cycle Frankfort native Larry W. Moore has imagined the river as the keeper of the community memory, the repository of local history and lore that it shares in these pages. Adopting the personas of a memorable cast of Frankfort characters, he brings to life a former slave recalling the building of his church; painter Paul Sawyier encountering vagabond poet Vachel Lindsay; William Jennings Bryan, his mind wandering as he addresses a local assembly; the deathbed reminiscences of riverboat captain John W. Cannon; Governor Thomas Bramlett after the defense of his capital in the Civil War; disgraced former Kentucky Treasurer "Honest Dick" Tate in exile; a prostitute in Crawfish Bottom; a sleepwalking Eleanor Lindsay keeping company with her ghosts; and others, including the voice of the river itself.

While these poems have a definite locality and cast of characters specific to Frankfort history (and a bit of imagination), they transcend the limits of place to stand as compelling narrative and lyrical poetry. Dip into these verses and be drawn into the timeless flow of the river as it...remembers.

Larry W. Moore is a sixth generation Kentuckian and fourth generation native of Franfort, where this cycle is set. He received an A.B. degree in humanities and psychology from Transylvania University in Lexington, spent a year abroad studying the life and work of Hermann Hesse under a grant from the German Academic Exchange Service, and did graduate work in the history of science and medicine at the University of Kentucky. Retired from a career in Kentucky state government where he served in a variety of managerial, training, and advisory positions, he is the co-founder and managing member of Broadstone Media LLC, a cultural promotion company. In this capacity he serves as publisher of Broadstone Books, and as curator of the Jane Chancellor Moore Gallery. He is a published poet, photographer, book reviewer, literary critic, and
translator.