Affrilachian Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Torli Bush And ‘Requiem For A Redbird’

There is a rich tradition of Black Appalachian poets and writers. One of the newest is Torli Bush, who grew up in Webster Springs, West Virginia. Bush has won poetry slams in the region, and now has a new book, Requiem for a Redbird. Producer Bill Lynch spoke with Bush about the book.

This conversation originally aired in the Feb. 23, 2025 episode of Inside Appalachia.

Producer Bill Lynch spoke with Bush about the book.

Lynch: Would you like to read something?

Bush: Sure I can, I can read something from, from the book I’ve there’s also been a ton of, ton of new stuff that I’ve been been working on. But I guess I’ll start off with this one. And…actually, I want to try to get through this without…

(Recites “Whereas Appalachia was always Black, queer and wild”)

Lynch: That was remarkable. Thank you. Just to say this so that my listeners understand this. You didn’t read that. You did that off the top of your head, and the cadence, and there’s so much in there. Wow. Do you do all your poems like that, or just a couple?

Bush: So the way that I got started into poetry was I’d taken some creative writing workshops here at WVU. I think it was my junior year, my undergrad. And long story short, I wound up performing at Steel City Slam in Pittsburgh. I got involved in that slam scene and I met a guy there who was originally from Clarksburg named Joe Weimer.

He was of mixed descent like me, but he was a Filipino American.

He graduated from WVU Law, was teaching out at San Marcos at Palomar College in California, but he would come back and go to go to the slam at Pittsburgh. He started mentoring me a bit, and got me into these different drills on how to work on your poetry, and performing it like that. That’s where that sort of stemmed from. The other form and craft, like how that poem has that “whereas” structure, that sort of came from grad school work later on that I had at West Virginia Wesleyan.

Lynch: Tell me about the poem itself. It seems very personal. It feels like you’re describing your life in a lot of ways.

Bush: Yeah, yeah. So like the place that I’ve gotten the structure of that poem from the collection called, “Whereas.” It’s by Layli Long Soldier. And throughout that collection she makes use of the whereas in that resolution form, but I wanted to kind of play on it as a resolution that also does tell a story. And that’s what I wanted to mix in, because I just have such a love for growing up here, and like everything that I’ve experienced here.

I don’t know… of the poems in this collection, this one actually might be my favorite one that I’ve written –partly because it gets into speaking into Appalachia as being such a complex place, and it talks about race and faith and everything else that I’m interested in, but it does do it through this lens of bringing someone in through a story.

This goes back to me talking about Joe earlier, like one of the first things that he taught me was you’re not wanting to explicitly preach with your poetry. You’re wanting to bring people in. You’re wanting to let them in on your life, and maybe shift their perspective that way. There has to be a place for them as the reader to connect with you as a person.

Lynch: Tell me about growing up in West Virginia.

Bush: I grew up in Webster springs. I was raised by my grandparents on my father’s side. I had good friends coming up through school. It was odd, and I didn’t realize, like, some of these things until later. For a long time, coming up through school, I was the only black person in my grade. And the way that I view race, I think that there’s a lot of bridges that can be built along the lines of class, between people.

I think that you have a history of that here in West Virginia, in terms like what the unions were able to do, obviously, met with, with all sorts of conflict from the powers that be. But that’s been one thing that, whenever I got into slam, I kind of noticed was just sort of the different perspectives that I had about race from, like, growing up here.

Apart from that, my own experience, I guess you could say with racism, it’s only ever been verbal. I’ve never been physically attacked for my race, but I’ve had some just slurs and things of that nature come up, but been able to navigate it. And I think it’s also part of what I was trying to navigate in the book, and then like, also taking it into the bigger context of how it is across the country.

Lynch: So what are your days like these days?

Bush: My day job is, I’m working as a construction inspector.

I guess I should mention that my undergrad from WVU is in mechanical engineering. There’s a whole thing about going from that to doing both in terms of the engineering and the writing, but my that’s what my days mostly look like.

I’m currently on a streetscape project, and it’s a lot of just refurbishing of sidewalks, planning landscape, that sort of thing. I really do like to see all the people that are working as the contractors, doing different jobs, because people will just often drive by and not really see a lot. Even though all the products come out to look like these really simple things, there’s a lot of precision in terms of what they’re having to do with drawing strings and cutting boards. Even though everything is simple, there’s this meditative, almost poetic arc to what they’re doing, even if it is messy.

Lynch: What happens next for you as far as your poetry?

Bush: Yeah, I’m actually close to getting the first draft of the second collection done. Actually, if you give me a minute, this one is one that I’ll have to pull up to read. But one of the poems I had actually just finished the other day was sort of in response to a prompt. I’ve been reading “Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings.”

It’s a collection by Joy Harjo. She’s the U.S. Poet Laureate from the Muskogee Creek tribe. And this one was just good to read with the moment that we’re in. The title of this one is “Post Election Prayer.”

(Reads poem)

Bush: That’s one of the most recent pieces that I’ve gotten done.

Lynch: Yeah, I can almost feel the ink still drying on that one. That’s amazing.

Bush: And that’s, that’s another thing that I’ve been trying to do. There’s been a lot of stuff that I’ve had to, I guess, process over the course of this whole cycle as a writer, as a poet. I’m trying to really maintain what I managed to strike with my first collection in terms of having a sense of balance, of like knowing when and how to express a focus and a calling out of what is wrong, and balancing that with the joy that you can still see in your life and the good around you and like trying to strike a balance with that.

——

Requiem for a Redbird is available from Pulley Press, an imprint of Clyde Hill Publishing.

A Camp For African American Heritage And ‘Holler,’ Inside Appalachia

This week on Inside Appalachia, we visit a summer camp that’s part of the legacy of Affrilachian poet Norman Jordan. Also, during the Great Depression, Osage, West Virginia was a raucous river town. It’s sleepier now, but music is keeping the magic alive. And, the author of an upcoming graphic novel about pipeline fighters has a message for people outside the region.

This week, we visit a summer camp that’s part of the legacy of Affrilachian poet Norman Jordan.

Also, during the Great Depression, Osage, West Virginia was a raucous river town. It’s sleepier now, but music is keeping the magic alive.

And, the author of an upcoming graphic novel about pipeline fighters has a message for people outside the region.

You’ll hear this story and more this week, Inside Appalachia.

In This Episode:

The Legacy Of Norman Jordan

Sariah Nichols (far left) and her vocal group perform “To Be Young Gifted and Black.”

*Photo Credit: Traci Phillips/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Affrilachian poet and playwright Norman Jordan is one of the most published poets in the region. Born in 1938, his works have been anthologized in over 40 books of poetry. He was also a prominent voice in the Black Arts Movement in the 1960s and 70s. He died in 2015, put part of his legacy is the Norman Jordan African American Arts and Heritage Academy in West Virginia.

Folkways Reporter Traci Phillips has the story.

The Music Of Osage

Aristotle Jones (right) and choir member Shelley Riley (left) singing “Oh, Happy Day” at the monthly choir meeting.

*Photo Credit: Clara Haizlett/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Just across the Monongahela River from Morgantown, West Virginia, is a small unincorporated community called Osage. Years ago, it was a bustling, industrial town with a thriving nightlife. Today, Osage isn’t quite so bustling, but the love of music endures among its residents. Residents like musician Aristotle Jones.

Last year, Folkways Reporter Clara Haizlett brought us this story.

Holler, A Pipeline Story

Author Denali Sai Nalamalapu.

*Courtesy Photo*

The 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline from West Virginia to Virginia took 10 years to complete. Author Denali Sai Nalamalapu was part of the protests to stop the pipeline. They have a new book, called HOLLER: A Graphic Memoir of Rural Resistance. It’s written and drawn in comics form and profiles six activists who fought the pipeline.

Mason Adams spoke with Nalamalapu.

*Holler* follows the stories of a group of pipeline protesters.

*Courtesy Photo*

Preparing For Wildfires

Prof. Smithwick is an expert on wildfires and a member of Science Moms.

*Courtesy Photo*

Wildfires seem to be getting worse — not just out West, but here in Appalachia, too. Erica Smithwick is a professor and fire expert at Pennsylvania State University.

Inside Appalachia Producer Bill Lynch spoke with Smithwick about what causes wildfires and how people can prepare.

——

Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr., The Carpenter Ants, Aristotle Jones, Morgan Wade, The Dirty River Boys and John Blissard.

Bill Lynch is our producer. Abby Neff is our associate producer. Our Executive Producer is Eric Douglas. Kelley Libby is our editor. Our Audio Mixer is Patrick Stephens. We had help this week from Folkways editors Clara Haizlett and Nicole Musgrave.

You can send us an email: InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.

You can find us on Instagram, Threads and X @InAppalachia. Or here on Facebook.

Inside Appalachia is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

Fostering A Cultural Identity At Camp And Our Song Of The Week, This West Virginia Morning

On this West Virginia Morning, a visit to the Norman Jordan African American Arts and Heritage Academy camp fosters young Black artists, and our song of the week takes us back to Paris’ Jazz Age.

On this West Virginia Morning, Affrilachian writer Norman Jordan was a prominent voice in the Black Arts movement before his death in 2015. From the latest episode of Inside Appalachia, Folkways reporter Traci Phillips visited the Norman Jordan African American Arts and Heritage Academy camp last summer.

And our Song of the Week comes from Stephane Wrembel’s fifth album Origins. He’s joined by Josh Kaye, Ari Folman-Cohen and Nick Anderson performing “Bistro Fada,” which became the theme song for Woody Allen’s 2011 Oscar-winning film, Midnight in Paris.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from Shepherd University and Marshall University School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

West Virginia Morning is produced with help from Bill Lynch, Briana Heaney, Caelan Bailey, Chris Schulz, Curtis Tate, Emily Rice, Eric Douglas, Jack Walker, Maria Young and Randy Yohe.

Eric Douglas is our news director. Teresa Wills is our host. Maria Young produced this episode.

Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning

'Growing Up Black In Appalachia': How One Storyteller Is Changing The Narrative

W.I. “Bill” Hairston is a professional storyteller. He spins tales about a number of different topics — some made up and some real.

During a recent talk at the West Virginia State University Economic Development Center on Charleston’s West Side he devoted his entire presentation to the topic “Growing Up Black in Appalachia.”

Hairston was originally born in Phenix City, Alabama in 1949. He describes the area of the town where he lived as being predominantly black.

“My dentist was black. My teachers were black. The lawyers were black. The pharmacists were black — everybody was black,” he said. “White folks sort of showed up here and there, and they were in town, but they were in another part of town for one thing. And other than the mailman and the potato chip guy that came to the store and the store owner, we really didn’t see a lot of white folks on a regular basis.”

That all changed for Hairston when his father announced he was retiring from the military and they were moving to join Hairston’s grandfather in the predominantly white town of St. Albans, West Virginia. Hairston said his family was the only one of color in the area.

As kids do, Hairston and his younger sister spent that first summer in West Virginia playing with the neighborhood kids. As summer came to an end, it was time for Hairston and his sister to go to school, and unbeknownst to them West Virginia’s schools were desegregated.

“We noticed that the little white kids that we played with all summer long were walking with us and we sort of said to ourselves, “Well, maybe, maybe they use the same bus stop.” And we got on the bus and right behind us came these white kids. We said, “Well, maybe they use the same bus,”” Hairston said.

Sixty years later Hairston considers himself a West Virginian, and although he said he has faced racism, it is because of those difficult experiences that he became a storyteller. He added that growing up storytelling was a form of entertainment.

“It goes all the way back to St. Albans. People would just sort of sit on their porch and share all kinds of stories,” he said.

For his last two years of high school, Hairston moved to Charleston’s West Side.

“There was a place right over here. There was a VFW club with a big ol’ oak tree outside. On Saturday night, the men would gather there,” he said. “As a kid you couldn’t say anything, but they would pass the bottle and tell each other some of the biggest stories in the world.”

However, not all of his stories are as fond of memories. In his talk, Hairston told a story about lifeguards that did not want to desegregate a pool in 1960s Charleston. They sprayed Hairston and his friends with water hoses to forcibly remove them.

But he also told a story about encountering a more subtle form of discrimination at an event more recently. Some things were said that had implied racial bias. That evening, he used a story from the main stage to point out what had happened and why it needed to change.

Hairston said he uses stories, often laced with humor, to help people understand the issues, especially when it comes to race, that surround us.

“I realized that in West Virginia — as much as I love it, and I love it to death — there are issues that we don’t deal with. There’s some things that we need to work on always,” Hairston said. “I hope this message keeps conversation alive, keeps people talking, making people aware so that when they hear something among their friends or their fathers or their uncles or whatever, they at least challenge it a little bit. I think we all become better.”

Hairston travels the region telling stories about his childhood that, he hopes, give his listeners a better understanding about what it means to grow up ‘Black in Appalachia.’

LISTEN: Being Black In Appalachia, A Conversation With Author Crystal Wilkinson

Author Crystal Wilkinson is the 2019 Appalachian Heritage Writer-in-Residence at Shepherd University.

Wilkinson’s second book Water Street was chosen by the West Virginia Library Commission as this year’s One Book One West Virginia common read.

Wilkinson was born in Hamilton, Ohio in 1962, but she grew up in Kentucky with her grandparents Silas and Christine Wilkinson.

Her grandfather was a farmer who grew tobacco, corn and sorghum, and her grandmother worked in the homes of local schoolteachers in Casey County.

Wilkinson studied journalism at Eastern Kentucky University, and then she received her MFA degree in creative writing at Spalding University in Louisville.

Wilkinson is a member of the Affrilachian Poets founded by Frank X. Walker.

In 2000, Wilkinson wrote her first book, Blackberries, Blackberries; in 2002, she published Water Street; and in 2016 she published The Birds of Opulence.

Wilkinson is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Kentucky in the MFA in Creative Writing program.

LISTEN: One Woman Journeys Back to Appalachia For Her Son

Paula Riley Thomas was living in Alexandria, Va. in 1991 when her son James was born. She moved back to McDowell County, W.Va. when James was a year old to escape a domestic violence situation. She struggled to recover emotionally but found some hope in her Christian faith and writing poetry.

Listen to hear her story and a poem she wrote about her son, James, shortly after she moved back to McDowell in 1992.

Excerpts from Paula’s Story

“I’ve been raped, how many times,” Paula said. “I can’t tell you how good God has been to me. I should have been dead a long time ago. With God I was meant to be here. … My son he saved my life.”

“Any time I was ready to give up I never wanted to leave him alone.”

Paula says the first rape happened years before James was born. Ever since then she didn’t feel clean. But she kept her faith and remembered what she learned in church – that Jesus loves her. The son of God, according to the Christian theology.

When she had her own son it brought an inexplicable joy, strength, and desire to live. She writes about the day James was born in a poem called, “Colors of Life and Love”.

The colors in the poem represent key people and memories from that day. The halls of Yellow represent the hospital. Pink was the doctors and nurse. Brown is Paula’s sisters. Green is her mother. Blue is James and Red is health complications she had and blood.