A WILD REGION by Kate Buckley Editors: Ricki Mandeville, Michael Miller There is so much stunning language in this collection, so much accuracy and grace, and there are so many images that take my breath away -- Cecilia Woloch A ribbon of Appalachia winds through Kate Buckley’s vigorous voice in her debut collection of poems, A Wild Region. It was my pleasure to choose her as the winner of the 2008 James Hearst Poetry Prize for the North American Review, and it is an equal pleasure to welcome this book of poems, crafted from the patterns of speech of the wild region Buckley loves and the wildness of its people, too -- Molly Peacock

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Kate Buckley is an acclaimed poet, a classically trained painter and a ninth-generation Kentucky native whose work has appeared in literary journals across the United States. She was the 2007 finalist for the Joy Bale Boone Poetry Prize, the 2007 winner of the Gabehart Prize for Imaginative Writing for poetry, and the 2008 winner of the North American Review's James Hearst Poetry Prize. A classically trained painter, she has also had her artwork privately collected and published in journals. Buckley currently resides in Laguna Beach with her husband, three unruly dogs and a tangle of roses. A Wild Region is her first book.

WHEN WE WERE YOUNG

I was always the darker one,
dusky as a gypsy my Granny said,
with cat-colored eyes,
legs longer than was good for me,
always bruised from climbing trees,

my sister, china eyed,
skin paler than any moon --
smooth as the jazz
our parents played late at night
after we'd gone to bed.

I saw them once
moving slowly into each other
against the pale August night,
his dark hand on her shoulder,
her laughter, the brightest sound
I have ever known
sailing up and over
lighting every candle in the room.