Chicken Train: Poems from the Arkansas Delta

By Terry Minchow-Proffitt

About the AuthorTerry Minchow-Proffitt is a pastor and poet who lives in St. Louis, Missouri. He was raised in the Delta of eastern Arkansas and continues to be inspired by his native land and its people. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in such magazines and journals as Arkansas Review, Big Muddy, Christian Century, Oxford American, Prick of the Spindle, and Valparaiso Poetry Review. Minchow-Proffitt received degrees in Philosophy from Arkansas State University and Theology from Princeton Theological Seminary. He has done further graduate study in English at the University of Mississippi and in Christian Spirituality at Washington Theological Union. He received certification in Spiritual Direction from The Haden Institute.A Personal Note About Chicken Train: Poems from the Arkansas DeltaMy hope for this collection is big. I want these poems to speak in a wholehearted way to where folks live, whether they're from the Arkansas Delta or Timbuktu. I've never actually met anyone from Timbuktu. But if a Timbuktuan were to climb aboard the Chicken Train, I'm praying that the wild ride would carry him or her around the bend and more deeply into the human mystery with honesty and grace. These poems clearly stem from the Arkansas Delta, but I've sought to root them deeper still, in a place perhaps more figurative than literal, but nonetheless real-that universal place of longing and belonging we all yearn for called home.Praise for Chicken Train . . .Each poem is part of a greater story, a string of memories, images, and people, but mainly a strong and stirring collection 0f places-places on the map, places in the mind, placesin the lost and mysterious thing we call the past, places from which we couldn't wait to leave, and places to which we only wish we could return. Read these poems as you would signs along the highway, some quickly, some slowly, it doesn't matter. Each one will spark your imagination or wake a forgotten memory, and suggest a direction, backward or forward, but always toward a destiny, a destination . . . a place you will recognize. --Steve Cash, Ozark Mountain DaredevilsI am so grateful for your work, for this work. And it is indeed an honor to be included by the use of our lyrics. Every region of the planet has its mystery, it darkness, and its light. And every place, especially a place like the Arkansas Delta, needs its voice, its champion, and its guide. Now, for me, when I think of who I am, and where I come from, that voice will be yours.--From the Foreword by John Dillon, Ozark Mountain Daredevils

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0692711821
• ISBN13: 9780692711828
• Release Date: May 2016
• Publisher: Middle Island Press
• Length: 106 Pages
• Weight: 0.47 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.3" x 6.0"