In Carol Tyx’s Rising to the Rim, we are in the presence of a thoughtful and loving sensibility that speaks in a language both energetic and simply put, language that opens a door and invites us in to marvel at what these poems notice—from a red tomato hidden behind its leaves to a revelation in old hiking boots, from the loneliness of an empty house to the red surprise of a raspberry patch ready to give today “what you missed yesterday.” Time and again these poems suggest a mature poet, who has raised children and seen her parents through the end of their lives, a poet who rages deliberately at injustice and muses quietly at falling leaves or the love of a father for his young son. In this moving collection, Carol Tyx observes with great skill and invites us to watch as well, as if such attention and such singing are the practice needed “to learn/how to love everything.” James McKean There is a wise observer in these poems, someone very awake to significant, visionary elements and possibilities in experience—“trying not to close / trying to taste this late afternoon” or “tell me how one moment / stands out, luminous and wet.” Carol Tyx always convinces me in her painterly attention to things that happen, that are, in the world, and her manner and voice are characteristically refreshing, as in “The easiest way to make sure / you love someone well is to / love everything, but we know / how hard that is, don’t we?” The tenderness is unforced. This is a clear and fearless poet who can talk quite naturally to her loneliness, to her bladder, to her bed. Alert to dramas in lives other than her own, she is also unsparing in recording darker moments, diminishments, inevitable declines. Her sometimes stark sadness, her gift for the celebratory, make this a distinctive collection of poems. Michael Dennis Browne

Rising to the Rim

Literature & Fiction

Tyx, Carol

Poetry

Brick Road Poetry Press

"A compassionate and imaginative retelling of a harrowing period in American penal history." Andy Douglas, Author of Redemption Songs: A Year in the Life of a Community Choir
Remaking Achilles: Slicing into Angola's History explores, through poetry in the voices of those who took part, the String Heel Incident of the 1950s, when 31 inmates crippled themselves by slicing through their Achilles tendons in protest of the horrifying conditions at Angola Prison. The history of The Louisiana State Penitentiary, called Angola, is filled with atrocities, abuses, horror stories. This particular incident was coordinated by the prisoners themselves to bring attention to their treatment, and story of the Heel String Incident spread throughout the U.S., finally calling attention to the horrible conditions and the needs for reform. 
Poet Carol Tyx was named the inaugural winner of The Willow Run Poetry Book Award of Hidden River Arts for this stunning work. 
Read the praise for Remaking Achilles: 
"Remaking Achilles brings alive the vivid realities of Angola's history. I study Angola, ...this collection paints the horrors and injustices of time past in a way that the simple facts never do. Carol Tyx has done a remarkable job of reminding us all of where we came from and why we do not want to return." (Marianne Fisher-Giorlando, retired criminal justice professor and Angola historian)
"These sterling voices pretending to be persona poems are so well researched and authentically rendered that the painful and traumatic memories of Angola will continue to haunt readers long after the last pages are sliced open and left bleeding." (Frank X Walker, author of The Unghosting of Medgar Evers)
"A compassionate and imaginative retelling of a harrowing period in American penal history. With each vivid and lyrical insight, Carol Tyx weaves a compelling poetic tale depicting the effects of institutional racism and cruelty, of unimaginable hardship, but also of the human impulse to resist and seek dignity. In the darkest hours, there are sparks of light." (Andy Douglas, author of Redemption Songs: A Year in the Life of a Community Prison Choir)
Like the ghostly inmate who takes his place in the long line of U.S. prison atrocities, Carol Tyx claims her place in a long tradition of poets like Muriel Rukeyser (The Book of the Dead, 1938) and Carolyn Forché (The Angel of History, 1994), incorporating individual impersonations and historical documents into lines that incriminate us all. (Cecile Goding, The Iowa Summer Writing Festival) 
As calls for reform of the systems of punishment and incarceration grow, Carol Tyx's work will take its place among those calls, bringing the voices of the victims themselves into the chorus.

Remaking Achilles: Slicing into Angola's History

Hidden River

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Tyx, Carol. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Tyx, Carol

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Tyx, Carol. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Rising to the Rim

Remaking Achilles: Slicing into Angola's History