Heritage

By James Still

Poet Laureate
of Kentucky


I shall not leave these prisoning hills
Though they topple their barren heads to level earth
And the forests slide uprooted out of the sky.
Though the waters of Troublesome, of Trace Fork,
Of Sand Lick rise in a single body to glean the valleys,
To drown lush pennyroyal, to unravel rail fences;
Though the sun-ball breaks the ridges into dust
And burns its strength into blistered rock
I cannot leave. I cannot go away.

Being of these hills, being one with the fox
Stealing into the shadows, one with the new-born foal,
The lumbering ox drawing green beech logs to mill,
One with the destined feet of man climbing and descending,
And one with death rising to bloom again, I cannot go.
Being of these hills I cannot pass beyond.

Author of the poem "Heritage," James Still is Kentucky's Poet Laureate.

Still, a native of Alabama, moved to Knott County in 1931 after receiving a Master of Arts from Vanderbilt University and a library science degree from the University of Illinois. He served as librarian of the Hindman Settlement School for six years, where, as part of his duties, he ran a library-on-foot delivering books to one-room schools from a carton he carried on his back. Sixty years later, the settlement school added the James Still Learning Center, a tutorial program that serves children with dyslexic characteristics.

In 1939 he moved into a log house located on a branch of Little Carr Creek intending to stay long enough to write his novel, River of Earth. Today, more than half a century later, he continues to live in the two-story house and River of Earth is considered an American classic. His poems, stories and novels reflect his observations, everyday experiences and the speech of southeastern Kentuckians.