PRAGER, Jerry—“ECHOES IN THE TIMBERS”

This prose poem, told in three voices, focuses on an inquest into the death of Margaret Buckingham, an escaped American slave found frozen by a picket fence in Puslinch, 1854.

The characters speaking in the seven monologues of the poem are Margaret Buckingham, Jerry Collins, and Nicholas Beaver—the Quaker Abolitionist who had built himself a log house on Brock Road, south of Aberfoyle, back in 1832 and later sheltered refugees, such as Margaret. This house, in whose timbers the events of the narrative now echo, was the very setting of Jerry’s first performance of his poem in September 2014. Having been moved to Pilkington Township in the 1980s, Beaver House is now home to the Elora Poetry Centre.

“Echoes in the Timbers” was read by Jerry at the Centre on two occasions, the first performance preceded by music from the Canadian Underground Railroad performed by Muddy York.

The 21-page poem is being printed on high quality paper, with stiff paper covers, and hand-stitched in the style of an old chap-book, accompanied by a booklet of copious endnotes. The two parts will be enclosed in a stiff card sleeve to make a presentation gift.

Limited to 50 copies. Numbered and signed by the author. $49.00 (postage extra)

(pre-orders to receive 10% discount)

Due to be published May 2016