Book review of Brenda Kay Ledford's "Red Plank House"

Poems read aloud like music in "Red Plank House"

by:  Marcia Hawley Barnes

Reprinted by permission of Editor/Publisher, Becky Long: "Clay County Progress"
                                            Thursday, October 31, 2019


"Red Plank House" poems by Brenda Kay Ledford, opens a door to the present and past, weaving in glimpses of Southern Appalachia.  More specifically, Ledford's poetry is an intimate look at recent history in Clay County, NC and the beautiful lives of some of the territory's settlers, residents, and the author herself.

Ledford's poems read aloud like music.  There is beat, changing rhythms, a pronounced call to the reader to come close and see "sunsets blazing across Shewbird Mountain," where an old red plank house whispers welcome.

Thirty-four poems fill the pages of "Red Plank House" and verses from "Where I'm From" are certain proof that Ledford writes from the heart and her genuine Appalachian background.  "Mama's Love Offering" on the adjoining page sets the mountain dinner table; and "Apples" transport the reader to an orchard in the 1900s.

Inside the cover of "Red Plank House" eagles cut through the Appalachian sky and mourning doves coo with sounds and rhyme that escape prose.  Phantom storms snort and wild geese wend north.

Ledford patterned a poignant poem after Mary Oliver's "The Summer Day."  Titled "The Rock," the author questions our relationship with an inanimate object and draws the reader to look at pain and beauty in a walk that is circumspect.

Author, poet, blogger, Ledford is an acclaimed and well-recognized literary contributor to Southern Appalachia and beyond.  "Red Plank House" is available at:  www.amazon.com

                                                     Author Brenda Kay Ledford