Perfect Black

Crystal Wilkinson is the author of The Birds of Opulence (winner of the 2016 Ernest J. Gaines Prize for Literary Excellence), Blackberries, Blackberries (winner of the Chaffin Award for Appalachian Literature), and Water Street (finalist for both the UK's Orange Prize for Fiction and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award). The winner of the 2008 Denny Plattner Award in Poetry from Appalachian Heritage magazine and the Sallie Bingham Award from the Kentucky Foundation for Women, she has received recognition from the Yaddo Foundation, the Vermont Studio Center for the Arts, the Kentucky Arts Council, and the Mary Anderson Center for the Arts. She was named a 2020 USA Fellow by United States Artists and teaches at the University of Kentucky, where she is Associate Professor of English in the MFA in Creative Writing Program.

• ForewordSection 1TerrainBaptism (Flatwoods, Kentucky 1972)CousinRapunzel ReduxAsking about My MotherThe Water Witch on SalvationThe Water Witch on InvasionThe Water Witch on ReadingO TobaccoThe VisitDig if You Will the PictureSlow DanceThe CreekSection 2My Father Was a CityBeyond the White CanvasAugust 9, 1974Wet NurseThe BathDropsyDeath MarchDear Johnny P:Dreams & RealityBonesOle FashionedBlack FarmerPressDirgeMy Black BodyOn Being CountrySection 3BloodrootKitchen GhostsSnow Falls Like a Scorned Woman's TearsBlack & Fat & PerfectWitnessComing of AgeDanceHow to Make a SmileBecomingPraise Song for the Kitchen GhostsMotherlandWinterNotes & Acknowledgements