‘Turn me loose’ poet excels in moving readers on age-old topic

Poet Frank X Walker calls forth the spirit of a civil rights martyr in his new collection, 'Turn Me Loose: The Unghosting of Medgar Evers.”

This powerful collection of poems, which revisits the assassination of Evers in Mississippi in 1963, seems especially timely in light of the recent racially charged events in Ferguson, Mo. But as the timeline at the back of the collection makes clear, the ideals for which Evers stood and to which we aspire have never been easily obtained.

In a bold and brilliantly executed move, Walker wrote these poems from a number of perspectives, including those of Evers' widow and brother, as well as those of Byron De La Beckwith, the man who killed Evers, and both of De La Beckwith's wives.

This chorus of voices is, unsurprisingly, discordant, and the poems from De La Beckwith's point of view can be difficult to read.

Indeed, Walker's ability to get inside the head of a man whose beliefs and actions are so repugnant is as impressive as the poems are disturbing.

Walker excels at exploiting the potential double meanings and evocative suggestions of words and phrases.

He also takes this a step further, crafting poems that have multiple meanings created by reading the text in different ways. For example, 'Ambiguity Over the Confederate Flag” (a poem in a disembodied voice) is rendered in two styles of text.

On the right, the plain text presents one vision of the old south; on the left, italicized text presents another. Read together, a story of willful blindness and cruelty is told.

'Turn Me Loose: The Unghosting of Medgar Evers” is an important book and a moving example of the ways in which poetry can prick our conscience and strengthen our resolve.

Book reading

' What: Frank X Walker reads from 'Turn Me Loose”

' Where: Mount Mercy University, Betty Cherry Heritage Hall, 1330 Elmhurst Dr. NE, Cedar Rapids

' When: 7 p.m. Thursday

' Cost: Free