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Bruce E. Whitacre
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The Elk in the Glade: The World of Pioneer and Painter Jennie Hicks Kindle Edition

by Bruce Whitacre (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
5.0 5.0 out of 5 stars 15 ratings
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Publishers Weekly Editor’s Pick! BookFest Award-Winning Selection
2023 Second Place in BookFest Awards for Contemporary Poetry
2023 Finalist in American BookFest Best Book Awards for Narrative Poetry

"Bruce E. Whitacre's ability to capture this support network and the extraordinary efforts of Jennie Hicks in a manner that reaches beyond the usual literary or arts reader makes her story appealing to a much wider audience.” — Diane Donovan, The Midwest Book Review.

“Side by side with the paintings, Whitacre’s book serves as a deeply personal yet relatable account of one woman’s life and turn-of-the-century lifestyle—and clearly demonstrates why this talented painter and pioneer stands as someone to remember.”

"A lovely and loving celebration of his remarkable great grandmother, Jennie Hicks's, life and art, and an inspiring example of how a woman's artistic discipline gave her the courage and insight to transcend the hardships of the Nebraska frontier." Ladette Randolph, Editor in Chief, Ploughshares

Based on personal memories and family oral history, Whitacre’s debut collection of sixteen poems traces the life and legacy of a family matriarch, his great grandmother, Jennie Hicks. The daughter of American pioneers, she marries a successful farmer, bearing him three girls, seeing them all married, only to outlive him and the farm. Once again alone and facing hardship, she transforms an almost forgotten hobby, her young girl dream, into a brilliant thirty-year career as a successful landscape painter, the future pride of her hometown, Farnam, Nebraska, and an important figure in American art. Lovers of American history, art, and strong female characters will enjoy these lyric chronicles.

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  1. Print length
    82 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publication date
    October 18, 2022
  5. File size
    6785 KB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Not Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Whitacre ends his book with an encouraging image of relationships and shared memories and I wonder if this is why so many of us find family history so enthralling. Our links to the past can tell us everything about what we ourselves will eventually leave behind." -- Benjamin Schmitt, At the Inkwell. --This text refers to the paperback edition.

About the Author

Bruce E. Whitacre's poems appear in the anthologies American Graveyard, Brownstone Poets, I Wanna Be Loved by You: Poems on Marilyn Monroe and the craft book, The Strategic Poet, as well as numerous journals and magazines. He is a native of Nebraska. --This text refers to the paperback edition.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BJRML5KQ
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Crown Rock Media (October 18, 2022)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 18, 2022
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 6785 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 82 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1946116254
  • Customer Reviews:
    5.0 5.0 out of 5 stars 15 ratings

About the author

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Bruce E. Whitacre

Bruce E. Whitacre

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Good Housekeeping, Poets Wear Prada, is a BookLife Reviews Editors

Pick. The Elk in the Glade: The World of Pioneer and Painter Jennie

Hicks, was also a BookLife Reviews Editors Pick and placed 2nd in

Contemporary Poetry at The BookFest Spring 2023. His crown sonnet

about the culture of violence won the Nebraska Poetry Society’s 2023

Open Poetry Contest. His poem “Garuda in Forest Park” is part of the

2024 edition of the Queensbound project that matches poems with subway

stops. His poems have appeared in many anthologies and over thirty

five journals. “Leave Meeting” was a sample poem in Diane Lockward’s

craft book, The Strategic Poet, Terrapin Books, 2021. He has been

nominated for Pushcart and Best of the Net. A Nebraska native and a

former theatre executive, he lives with his husband in Queens, NY.

Customer reviews

5 out of 5 stars
5 out of 5
15 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Alexandra (Sasha) Wade
5.0 out of 5 stars A Gem Not to Be Missed!
Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2023
Verified Purchase
“Elk in the Glade” is an extraordinary deep dive into the life of Jennie Hicks: a courageous matriarch, pioneer, and artist. it is also a uniquely engaging poetic journey; Jennie, the author’s great grandmother, is the guiding muse of these poems. As Whitacre tells us, during the writing process he felt her “muted whisper, shaking head…,” and the reader can feel her distinct presense and voice throughout. This creative collaboration is further enhanced by Whitacre’s interweaving of lyric and narrative language in the poems. This hybrid style of story-telling gives the reader such a visceral sense of family life in rural Nebraska during the 1900’s. The inclusion of Jennie’s original art work is another wonderful dimesion in the book, as the paintings bring her adventures and artistic sensibilities back to life for the reader. This gem of a book is not to be missed.
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SJK
5.0 out of 5 stars the delightful poetry recount of the trials and talents of a dearly loved great-grandmother
Reviewed in the United States on August 14, 2023
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Jenny Hicks' arrival in Nebraska and the hardships of life as a pioneer woman mirror the stories of so many pioneer families. This book draws us in with the warmth of our memories and captures us with the concise yet complete nature of Bruce Whitacre's poetry and story telling. I am compelled by an unspoken theme in the book. Jenny's paintings and Whitacre's writing both appear wistful. Her longing for unseen places and experiences apart from the family where she gave the whole of her life happily, and the writer's longing to return to, and remember/relive past memories and people. I loved this book. It feels like home.
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michaelredmond
5.0 out of 5 stars In the American vein
Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2022
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I read this chapbook in one sitting because I couldn't put it down. Then I read it again. Only other writers would appreciate Bruce Whitacre's mastery of the hardest thing, which is simplicity. The plain speech of plain people living plain lives, yet the powerful sense that lying within these people, occasionally surfacing, are all the grand themes of human experience, love, death, war, peace, "intimations of immortality," all these things. The surety with which Mr. Whitacre suggests heart's truths that those people left unspoken. The sparse, vivid, meticulous description. I don't mean to flatter him, but this writing is very much in the American vein, W.C. Williams, Cather, Edgar Lee Masters, Sandburg. Jennie Hicks would be proud, I'm sure -- although discomfited to find herself the center of strangers' attention.
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Mariella Altamura
5.0 out of 5 stars Nostalgic, intimate and moving
Reviewed in the United States on December 8, 2022
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This book is a transporting read- full of color, sweet and instructive. With agile and dexterous strokes, Bruce fleshes out the world and art of his great-grandmother, Jennie Hicks- a strong, creative, and resilient artist and pioneer in turn-of the century Nebraska. I was deeply moved by it.
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Jennifer B.
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful
Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2022
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I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book of poems about a time and place rarely written about. Thank you!
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Renae
5.0 out of 5 stars A heart provoking piece of history
Reviewed in the United States on November 7, 2023
This compilation of poetry touched my heart in a profound way. As I read the stories of Jennie Hicks, it took me back to my own childhood and the stories my own great-grandmother, Mary Leach, told. The two women were from different states but lived the same time period and lifestyle working on the farm while raising their families.

Bruce does a fantastic job of portraying a piece of history that too often is overlooked and highlights the strength and independence of our ancestors that built the foundation of America through perseverance and integrity in some of the most difficult times our country faced, but you would never know that by the way they lived their lives. True American heroes that deserve to have their stories told.

Thank you Bruce for sharing this work of love.
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marianne w.
5.0 out of 5 stars A heartfelt homage
Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2023
What a beautifully written and heartfelt homage to Jennie Hicks. The stories, the characters, the history mesmerize. And a shout out to Nebraska! A greatly enjoyable reading experience.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars The Elk in the Glade: The World of Pioneer and Painter Jennie Hicks—a splendid book!
Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2023
Bruce Whitacre has written a beautiful book of poetry! These descriptive poems reveal new worlds and human lives—and it is a joy to be drawn into each chapter through the clear elegance of his language. I felt like I came to know Jennie Hicks and her daughters, to admire and appreciate them. This is a marvelous read!
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