Poetry

Floridanos, Menorcans, Cattle-Whip Crackers: Poetry of St. Augustine

Title:
Floridanos, Menorcans, Cattle-Whip Crackers: Poetry of St. Augustine

Poetry from this collection has been published in anthologies and journals, read at the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Annual Conference and Florida Literary Arts Coalition Conferences, recognized at the Florida Folk Festival, and recorded for the Florida State Historical Archives.

Author: 

Ann Browning Masters, Ph.D.
Price:$19.95

Florida Frontiers “Floridanos, Menorcans, Cattle-Whip Crackers: Poetry of St. Augustine”

Three sisters entertained Union soldiers in their St. Augustine home during the Civil War, carefully gathering information. While two sisters continued to distract the soldiers, the third, Lola Sanchez rode a horse through backwoods and marshes to relay Union plans to Confederate forces.

Poet Ann Browning Masters is related to the Sanchez sisters and writes a poem from Lola’s perspective in the new book “Floridanos, Menorcans, Cattle-Whip Crackers: Poetry of St. Augustine.”

Florida Frontiers “Hank Mattson, Cracker Cowboy Poet”

Hank Mattson is known as the “Cracker Cowboy Poet” who “tells it like it was.”

A native of Lake Placid in Highlands County, Mattson recites his poetry and discusses Florida’s pioneer culture at libraries, schools, and festivals throughout the state.

“When This Old Hat Was New” is a poem Mattson wrote about Jacob Summerlin’s life as a Florida cowman in the 1800s. Appalachian folk musicians Dana and Susan Robinson set the poem to music, and it earned the 2015 Will McLean Best New Florida Song Contest, selected first out of 42 entries.

Edmund Skellings was named the Poet Laureate of Florida

1980 – Edmund Skellings was named the Poet Laureate of Florida, a lifetime appointment, by Governor Bob Graham on this date. Originally from Ludlow Massachusetts, Skellings studied English at UM Amherst, than pursued graduate studies at the University of Iowa. Even early in his career, Skellings was a proponent of young people learning to write well and study poetry. He began teaching at Florida Atlantic University in 1967 and began experimenting with early audio amplification, combining this new technology with his poems.

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