Autographed Books
Texas Poet Laureate Autographs Four of Her Books to You! Karla K. Morton!
- Item Number
- 207
- Estimated Value
- 150 USD
- Opening Bid
- 50 USD
Item Description
Texas Poet Laureate Karla K. Morton, a Fort Worth native and current Denton resident has had her work published (12 books!) in literary journals and publications such as Amarillo Boy, REAL, descant, Langdon Review, New Texas, Illya’s Honey, Borderlands, and Southwestern American Literature. The Texas Legislature elected her 2010 Texas Poet Laureate. She then set out on her Little Town, Texas tour to share the beauty of creating art with students around the state!
We are thrilled and honored to have Karla donate four of her books to our auction! She will personally autograph and mail to the winning bidder!
"Wooden Lions is the ultimate animal-lovers' book, with each poem in this amazing collection cradling the soul of a creature. Morton's poetry winds through our connection with the animal spirit, breathlessly binding us forever in their wisdom; their endless lifting up of humankind. This is a celebration of all beasts, reminding us to cherish all those who nurture us. A percentage of these book sales will be donated to animal shelters and facilities across the country."
Don't Be Nervous
when you see her.
Don't worry about
what you will say, or
how you will say it.
Just look at her,
and wonder
how your hand will fit
in the small of her back;
how many pins it takes
to hold up her hair. . .
It's no wonder Morton has been called “one of the more adventurous voices in American poetry . . .”
"We should have been prepared for this level of lyrical quality—just based on her Beastie book. But there's no way we could have anticipated this level of passion, wisdom, and sensitivity. There is a subtext that runs through Karla's work, an in-the-moment hunger, a realization that yes, all life is fleeting—but look how glorious and rich it can be. She knows how to name things, how to give the most common of items a special magic and meaning. Read the poem 'Charmer'. The images are all images we know and understand but in Karla's hands they are transformed into something deeper, they turn into images that transcend the moment. That is what good poetry is supposed to do. And Karla's poems do it—again and again and again."—Alan Birkelbach, 2005 Texas State Poet Laureate
A writer's thoughts on Meeting Karla K. Morton in Denton, Texas:
I’ve had people ask me, “Shelly, why do you go down to the coffee shop every day? Don’t you have a coffee-maker?” Well, I do … but at the coffee house I get to see people. The coffee-maker doesn’t supply that. At my coffee shop, I get the opportunity to meet scads of interesting Denton folks. The regular morning crew outside of Jupiter House is a hoot in itself. They call themselves “Murderer’s Row,” and all you have to do is linger long enough and you are guaranteed a story (or three).
However if there is a “doin’s transpirin‘” on the square, characters seem to crawl out of the woodwork. Last spring there was a camera crew from a local television station filming downtown, and the place was buzzing with activity … and with people I had never seen before. I noticed one woman with a beatific smile, an obvious sense of style, and a kick-ass pair of cowboy boots.
She looked like an interesting sort of person, and I decided I needed to find out more. It turned out that it was my privilege to meet Karla K. Morton.
Take a gander at these boots she wore, and just try to tell me that you wouldn’t notice them! They were obviously high quality, and I asked her about them.
She smiled and sat down. When Karla opened her mouth to speak, I realized that she was a fellow storyteller … but, she wasn’t any ordinary back-porch storyteller (not that there’s anything wrong with that)! In 2010 Karla K. Morton was named the Texas Poet Laureate; the first female Texas Poet Laureate in nearly twenty years.
About those boots … Karla told me that she was a breast cancer survivor (in fact, she wrote a poetry collection, called Redefining Beauty, during her treatment). After the harrowing ordeal of her treatment and recovery, her husband gave her a gift of money so that she could buy something she had wanted for a very long time: a pair of cowboy boots from Leddy’s.
If you have never been to M. L. Leddy’s in Fort Worth, you might not understand the attraction. When you set foot in that store, the smell of fresh leather wafts over you, and the sight of hundreds of intricately stitched handmade boots is overwhelming. I enjoy window shopping in the place, but my pocketbook doesn’t hold enough money to even buy a belt there. However, people from all walks of life and from all over the world turn to Leddy’s for custom Western footwear. Cowboys, presidents, royalty, and rock stars proudly kick up their heels in these finely crafted boots.
Karla pined for a pair of them.
She explained how she went down to Leddy’s and got measured for a pair of boots. They gauged every centimeter of both feet in a process that seemed to take hours. It was necessary, though, because those precise measurements would ensure that her boots fit perfectly. Karla put her money on the counter, and then discovered that her boots wouldn’t be ready for 18 months!
Deflated? Of course she was. After surviving a battle with cancer, eighteen months must have seemed like a lifetime.
A few weeks later, a letter came in the mail to announce that she, Karla K. Morton, had been named the 2010 Texas Poet Laureate. Karla had an idea … she didn’t know if it would work, but it was worth a shot. She called the manager of Leddy’s and told him the good news. “It’s a pity that I won’t be able to wear my handmade boots from Leddy’s as I travel around the state sharing my poetry this year,” she sighed through the phone.
Karla grinned from ear to ear as she said, “Leddy’s gave me three gifts.” She said that they moved her order to the top of the list (and she had her boots before she began her tour), added a ring of laurel leaves around the Lone Star of Texas, to signify that she was the Poet Laureate, and they had them hand-stitched by the best craftsman there — the man who had taught every other craftsman at Leddy’s how to stitch a pair of boots. Not only did she have a fabulous pair of boots, she had a darned good tale to pair with them.
Karla told us many other stories that morning and held us all in thrall. It is no surprise that she is also a member of the Texas Institute of Letters and has been described as “one of the more adventurous voices in American poetry.” I was thrilled to see that she had written a poem about “Reginald,” who is the resident ghost at the Visual Arts Center. You can find that (along with a photograph of the ghost!) in a book called Passion*Art*Community, Denton, Texas in Word and Image.
I’ve also just seen that she will soon have an exhibit at the Visual Arts Center — an exhibit of photography accompanied by poetry written by 2005 Texas Poet Laureate Alan Birkelbach. It’s called, No End of Vision: Texas As Seen by Two Laureates, and it’s opening on September 8, 2013. Click the picture below to find out more information.
You might want to catch that exhibit, or read some of her poetry. And, if you see the woman below holding court at Jupiter House in Denton, you can join me at her feet. I’ll be basking in the beauty of the stories that fall from Karla K. Morton’s lips like a sparkling waterfall of words."
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