Cactus and pine: Songs of the Southwest - Softcover

Hall, Sharlot Mabridth; Lindquist, Karen; Cory, Kate T.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0927579014 ISBN 13: 9780927579018

Publisher: Sharlot Hall Museum Press, 1989

Synopsis

During Sharlot Hall's lifetime, her poems were widely acclaimed and included in many anthologies. Some were given musical settings; others were published in American and British journals; all have been cherished by those who loved the West. A companion book to Poems of a Ranch Woman, this collection of poems captures forever the uniqueness and flavor of her style a sensitive wordsmith who often explored western dialects as she wrote of life about her, profoundly observed by a woman keenly attuned to reality. The book is illustrated with line drawings and historic photographs. It also contains an introduction by Kenneth R. Kimsey, and a preface by the author.

About this title

About the Author

Sharlot Mabridth Hall (1870-1943) When she was a child of twelve, Sharlot and her family moved to the Arizona Territory from Kansas. The Halls, a ranching and farming family, lived fairly isolated from daily contact with the wider world, spending little time in nearby Prescott.

Hall received very little formal education, but learned literature and a love of the written word from her mother, Adeline. She began writing poetry at the age of eleven or twelve, expanding her writing to short stories and historical articles as she matured.

Through the high quality of her writing, both prose and poetry, in her early thirties, she received a position as assistant editor of Out West magazine, a Los Angeles monthly publication of historian, anthropologist, and writer, Charles Lummis.

By 1909, Hall was serving as Arizona's territorial historian; the first woman appointed to public office in the Arizona Territory. Two years later, while still at this post, the first edition of Cactus and Pine was published. It was during this same period that she began to see the need for a place to house and care for the artifacts, photographs, and written material that documented the early period of Arizona's history.

Hall leased the "Governor's Mansion" in Prescott in 1928 and started a museum with her personal collection. From that small beginning the museum that bears her name grew to cover a city block. It contains historic houses, several log structures, exhibit buildings, various out- buildings, and a modern Museum Center. A continually growing collection of artifacts and archival material is preserved for research, exhibition, and for future generations to enjoy.

Sharlot Hall was named to the Arizona Women's Hall of Fame in 1981; a fitting tribute to her contributions to the history and the literature of Arizona.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

"O life is a game of poker/ And I've played it straight to the end;/ But the last chip's down on the table/ And I'm done with the game, my friend.// The fire in my blood it flickers/ Like a guttering candle light,/ When the tallow beads in greasy tears/ And the wind whips in from the night.// The deck was stacked by the Dealer/ Before he would let me in;/ The cards were marked, and I knew it/ There was never a chance to win.// But I bluffed the game to a finish/ Till He nodded and called my hand/ Palms empty and crossed but the lips still smile/ And the Dealer will understand." ("Cash In")

"The whirling air takes form of dust/ A wayward hour to fall again;/ So whirling though takes form of books/ Dust shaken from the minds of men." ("Motto for My Bookplate")

About this edition

• Publisher: Sharlot Hall Museum Press
• Publication date: 1989
• ISBN 10: 0927579014
• ISBN 13: 9780927579018
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 250
• Illustrator: Hall Sharlot M.