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| Copyright 2015 -- JD Cagle |
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| Copyright 2015 -- Holly Holt |
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This evening Charles Clifford Brooks III would like to preview his epic, The Salvation of Cowboy Blue Crawford, a work scheduled to appear in print in 2017 (yikes! time is flying). The picture below, as Clifford observes, "shows a dash of Blue's heresy." Holly Holt has also illustrated a number of passages from the epic.
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| Copyright 2015 -- JD Cagle |
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| Image Credit -- Holly Holt |
The
Salvation of Cowboy Blue Crawford is an autobiographical epic that
progressively beat, kicked, and slammed itself against my mind for two years after
the release of The Draw of Broken Eyes & Whirling Metaphysics. At the end of my first book, there was an
epic I drew inspiration from due to what I saw working with the juvenile
justice system. That epic was called The
Gateman’s Hymn of Ignoracium, and it was the cathartic creation of a Fourth Afterlife
worse than the Inferno, of course, in homage to Dante’s Divine Comedy. It contained no autobiographical elements.
I had no intentions of writing another one, or
making it a gimmick at the conclusion of Athena Departs. Cowboy Blue’s personality, the landscape he
traverses, the woman he’s convinced is his salvation, and finally the addition
of two other male characters—as well as a volatile third female to the family—culminated into a full
literary Western in the last two months.
I’ve
been writing pieces of it for over a year.
Like Poe with his short stories, I often don’t know where each chapter
is going, or even if these chapters will stay in the sequence in which they are
written. Putting all melodrama aside, a
whole portion of my life, and its angel/demon tug of war, has begun oozing into
my pages whether I like it or not. After
Athena wrapped up, the tsunami of inspiration now free to engulf me has put
Blue into clear focus.
All
of my writing is either to enlighten on some level, entertain, never preach,
or help me understand who and why I am.
The two men, or wolves, to ramble with Blue are Sword and Shadow and Father
Hammer. Both of these have distinct
purposes and an amalgamation of several heroes who have helped me stay away
from the abyss. The fourth of these
hoodlums is Lily. She is sister to the
Angel of War, and more ferocious than all other three, combined. Blue and Lily have a volatile love/hate
exchange for kisses and bar fights.
Blue
searches for Miss Dixie, which is a journey that is not easy by any means. I do not dramatize or hide or apologize for
any of the details in this story. It’s
far too long to add to the end of Athena Departs, and I think that’s what is
best. As I have entered “the midpoint of
my life,” I, too, find myself in a dark wood, but I am not alone. Blue is not alone. He and his crew will burn that wood down to
find Miss Dixie safe.
Yet,
is Miss Dixie even real? What war are
these four fighting? Is salvation
possibly found in anyone but ourselves?
All Blue, Sword and Shadow, Father Hammer, and Lily know is that they
are the only loyalty on this earth. There is always a good fight to be had, and
putting down the bad man is more than likely “morally ambiguous.”
My
editor, close friend, and Sister of The Southern Collective Experience, Holly
Holt, has been creating artwork for The Salvation of Cowboy Blue Crawford I’ve
had no influence to craft, and her results have taken me aback. I say that without pandering to anyone or
exaggerating for effect. I have found
that when you work with the right people for the right
reasons to the best end – miracles happen every day. This can be no truer than now.
Below
are three excerpts from Blue Crawford that show
some of the American South’s song, its mountains, cities, glory, and
decadent setting of this havoc, but also the Old Faith mysticism found below
the Mason-Dixon I wish to breathe new life.
I have found peace in the bullets Blue throws at accidents made in the
past. All lost loves, contracts with the
devil, promises to God, and hopes of a love that can make Blue simmer are
here.
The
only thing Blue fears is Miss Dixie’s ghost giving up too soon, that his sins
will make him suffer too soon, and that Lily will gut him before his madness
takes them all the way of Ahab and his white whale. This is a Western with a taste of the Far
East, placed into today’s wild South where angels think twice before stopping
by.
When
a writer tells the absolute truth, to the right music, it is read as metaphor,
though it is not. The epic is slated to
be published in 2017 on its own. At this
moment, there is talk of a companion book being released as well where the
story is taken in new directions by poets who know me, personally, and see
themselves as one of these heretical four horsemen.
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| Copyright 2015 -- Holly Holt |
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| Image credit -- Holly Holt |
Chapter 1
He is
calm when it’s called for,
and
reckless
at the
right times.
Like a
decent son,
when
Sunday comes
back
around,
Blue
edges
in
beside his momma
before
she worries.
Every thief, harlot, and bandit
is cognizant of where God
looks for the saved:
sittin’ penitent beside
the prettiest boss.
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| Image credit -- Holly Holt |
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| Image Credit -- Holly Holt |
Chapter 11
Dear
Oracle,
You
are the Holy Designer of New Hope.
Hear
him. Blue is trying to thrive
even
with the threat of being forgotten
is
more destructive
than
his more sociable drugs.
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| Image credit -- Holly Holt |
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| Image credit -- Holly Holt |
Chapter 12
It
amounts to the cannon fodder
from
Cowboy Blue's
Colt
.45.
Miss
Dixie is his done-in.
The
last 365
have
been an Averno
to
swallow.
But for her,
Blue would engrave grief
into Mother Russia.
The heart is
what the heart makes.
Blue would engrave grief
into Mother Russia.
The heart is
what the heart makes.
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| Image credit: Holly Holt |
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| Image credit: Holly Holt |
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| Copyright 2015 -- JD Cagle |
Bio: Clifford Brooks is a poet, teacher, and rebel working out his dreams in North Georgia. He and Joe Milford sat ten years ago mulling over how to pull a family, and business, out of art. Over that decade Clifford’s book, The Draw of Broken Eyes& Whirling Metaphysics, earned a Pulitzer and Georgia Author of the Year nomination. Yet, more importantly, his passion born sitting beside his best friend has come to fruition – The Southern Collective Experience is on the map. This collection of artists of all genres is still in its infancy, but can be found by the same name on Facebook and at www.southerncollectiveexperience.com. He is nearing the completion of Athena Departs, a collection of verse that continues where his last book left off; and The Salvation of Cowboy Blue Crawford, an epic with autobiographical intent.
If you would like to purchase The Draw of Broken Eyes & Whirling Metaphysics, see these links:
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Copyright 2015 -- Mechelle Ballew Image Credit -- Holly Holt |
Athena Departs is also forthcoming. The cover above is a joint effort between Ezra Letra and Holly Holt. The book's editor is JD Isip out of Texas A&M.
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