The Shadow
Mountain Empire Publications in conjunction with Outskirtspress based in Parker, Colorado, published M. Ray Allen’s fifth book of poems titled 777 Poems that features a new poetic form that he created. Each poem in the book is comprised of seven stanzas, and each of the seven stanzas features seven lines with each line featuring seven monosyllabic words in order to create exactly seven sounds per line when the poem is recited. Also, each 777 poem in the book begins with the word, “Christ.” Additionally, the content of each stanza features some aspect of Christ’s life on Earth or as the Word before the Word was made flesh and dwelt on Earth as Jesus Christ.
The 777 Poems is now available on Amazon, Target, Barnes & Noble, Thriftbooks, City Lights Booksellers & Publishers and more than 200 other bookstores. Furthermore, the book is available on Kimble.
To learn more about the 777 Poems and view the covers of the book, readers can go online and type the following: Amazon, M. Ray Allen, 777 Poems.
A portion of each sale will be donated to Appalfolks of America Association, the non-profit corporation that Allen founded in 1985, to promote the literary and performing arts in Southern Appalachia.
Allen remarked, “So far, I know that the 777 Poems has been purchased by people from California, Nebraska, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia, Florida, and New York.”
He added, “It is a good start, and the 777 Poems is designed to provide Sunday school teachers and Bible study group leaders with a seven-week course based on the KJV.”
“The 777 Poems features a “Study Guide” and an “Answer Section” that provides biblical references for further study and for validation of the answers that are provided from the KJV,” Allen concluded.
Allen’s first book of poems, The Roads I Travel, was published by Nightshade Press in Troy, Maine, in 1990, and his second book of poems, Between the Thorns: Windcarver Songs of Appalachia, was released by ROAD Publishers of Fairfax Station, Va., in 1991.
Allen’s next two books of poetry were published by Mountain Empire Publications, in Clifton Forge, Beyond Star Bottom and Other Poems (2000) and An Appalachian Poet in San Francisco in (2013).
Allen concluded, “My poetry books are on sale here at the Buckhorne Country Store & Campgound, all except The Roads I Travel which is out of print.”
After completing a 41-year career as an educator who taught on the high school level in Kentucky, Michigan, California, and Virginia, Allen retired in 2004, but he continued to pursue his career as a journalist and poet, serving as the editor of The Virginian Review, a newspaper established in Covington, Va. in 1914, from Dec. of 2022 till Feb. of 2023.
