“Red Clay Blood River”
Easter Morning
On Easter morning we gathered with some friends in a nearby wildflower garden founded by the mother of one of our group. We read poems, shared our reflections, and munched on breakfast goodies. Then we took a vial of spikenard, which we had purchased two years ago in Bethlehem, and sprayed some drops on an [...]
Elephants
Red Clay, Blood River is a story about memory — how we remember, what our memories do to us, and how we share our memory with the memory of earth. As I have been working on these questions lately I am reminded of the memory of elephants, thoughts which issued in this poem.
Elephants
return to the [...]
The Trail of Tears Association
In 2003 Sylvia and I retraced, by car, the main overland route of the Trail of Tears, starting northeast of Chattanooga and proceeding across Tennessee, western Kentucky, into southern Illinois, across the Mississippi into Missouri, the northwestern tip of Arkansas and into Oklahoma. We drove in the comfort of a car and stayed in pleasant [...]
Like a Russian Doll
Like a Russian doll
she wears each passage of her life in polymorphous coats.
She is the wise companion, etched by years of circling suns,
the woman burnished silver with accomplishment,
the mate with auburn hair and radiant eyes,
[...]
William J. Everett
In my teaching career I authored eight books and numerous articles in social ethics and religion. After over thirty years of academic work — in Germany, India, and South Africa as well as in the United States — I wanted to turn my hand to a poetically written novel to probe the issues of ecological and human reconciliation.
When I am not writing, I create furniture for worship settings. For more about my work, go to www.WisdomsTable.net, where you will also find galleries of artwork by my wife Sylvia, whose ancestors were the original inspiration for Red Clay, Blood River. Click to read my complete bio...
Red Clay Blood River
Red Clay, Blood River is a story told by Earth about two brothers from Germany and an enslaved South African woman whose lives bind together America’s “Trail of Tears” and South Africa’s simultaneous “Great Trek” of 1838. Memories of their journeys through oppression, estrangement and reconciliation reverberate in the lives of three contemporary students brought together by their interests in ecology. Through their often difficult friendship and a surprising discovery they begin to unravel the mystery of their estrangements, struggles, and deep connections to each other and to the earth.
Based on extensive research in the United States, South Africa, and England, this book takes readers through a sweeping saga of love and conflict in the context of emigration, invasion, slavery, and exploitation. Through its stories we are invited to see our fractured human history from within the sensibilities of an earth that seeks the flourishing of all creatures and transcends their deaths within its life.
I welcome you to read Excerpts from Red Clay Blood River.
You can also view some Reader's Responses to the book.
If you are already reading Red Clay, Blood River, check out the Reader's Guide and Glossary of Names.
If you are in a Book Club, go to the Guide for Discussion Groups.
If you want to know more about people who helped me in writing this book check out the People Present at the Creation.