Walt McDonald was named Texas State Poet Laureate in 2001. This is just one accolade in his distinguished writing career. He established the Creative Writing program at Texas Tech University, serving as poetry editor there from 1975 to 1995, and retired May 2002 as Paul Whitfield Horn Professor of English and Poet-in-Residence. He was a member of the literature advisory panel for the Texas Commission on the Arts from 1986 to 1988. He won four Western Heritage Awards from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and six awards from the Texas Institute of Letters (including the Lon Tinkle Lifetime Achievement Award). McDonald also received the 2004 Texas Book Festival Bookend Award for a lifetime of contributions to Texas literature. TCU Press honors his amazing career in this tenth book of the TCU Press Texas Poet Laureate Series. A master of the story and the subtle rhythm of the line, this prolific poet has had more than 2,300 poems published in journals and his twenty-two collections. From these collections, this book is born. These poems move readers on an elemental level—full of the hardscrabble of everyday life, yet infused with pure faith, reminding the reader that our lot is not easy in this world, but it is nothing less than glorious.
