Of German, Irish and Cherokee heritage, Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel was born in Stroud, Oklahoma, on December 22, 1918, during the historic worldwide influenza epidemic of that time, the first daughter and fourth of eight children born to Benjamin Fletcher McDaniel and Anna Elizabeth Finster McDaniel. She was raised in the region known as the Creek Indian Nation.
Wilma began her life of writing at eight years of age--composing on precious scraps of old mail and used paper that she would stash away once completed. Ms. McDaniel wrote voluminously of her culture. Her sharecropper family was forced from Oklahoma by massive dust storms and the Great Depression; one among the thousands making their desperate exodus to California in search of survival. Wilma, like her family, spent many seasons picking crops up and down California’s San Joaquin Valley. As a teenager she brought with her “the fire and burden of poetry,” which remained her constant and often critical companion through those following decades. “It can burn away trash and sear my ego, or warm my spirit in a bitter cold state of mind. I cannot imagine life without it.” [For more about Wilma in her own words, see Joan Jobe Smith’s fascinating “Almost-Interview” from 1999.]
Wilma passed away Friday, April 13, 2007 at 88 years in Tulare, California and was laid to rest in Tulare District Cemetery off Blackstone Avenue on Friday, April 20, 2007. The memorial and funeral services were attended by many of Wilma’s relatives and numerous friends. She is missed and loved by many.
Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel has been titled the ‘Okie Euterpe’ by critic Robert Peters. Author and critic Cornelia Jessey praised her “dry and burning phraseology”; while novelist James D. Houston described her writing as “absolutely unique and magical”. Ms. McDaniel is arguably the finest poet to have emerged from the Oklahoma Dustbowl exodus. In fact, the collective body of her work has made her “. . . the most important voice to emerge from the Dust Bowl migration . . .”, as noted by Gerald Haslam, Ph.D., fellow ‘Okie’ writer and Professor Emeritus of English at Sonoma State University. Wilma’s work was featured regularly in the poetry journal Hanging Loose, while four strong collections of her poetry have been published by Hanging Loose Press, in Brooklyn, New York, and other publishers across the country. Here in California, Back40 Publishing collaborated with Wilma in the last two decades of her life, publishing three collections of Wilma’s poetry and eight editions of her prose, vignettes, and short stories, reprising Wilma’s Stone Woman Press imprint on these eleven chapbooks and books; which she had used on most of her earlier, self-published collections.
Wilma was honored as standing Poet Laureate of Tulare, California in recognition of her poetry and prose, during the Central Valley town’s Bicentennial Clebration in 1976. As folk singer Pete Seeger said, “I wish there were more poets like Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel.”
In closing, I would add that--as an American icon of what I describe as folk poetry--Wilma stands without peer; much as American folk singer Woody Guthrie stands without peer. Fascinating, both hailed from Oklahoma.
In life, she was an amazing woman and extraordinarily courageous to keep the story of her people alive so vividly through her expressive pen. In her passing, Wilma is warmly remembered and loved by many friends, extended family and devoted readers.
In contemporary American literature, Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel will be acknowledged, remembered and revered for her brilliant, insightful poetry--recognized and instantly accessible by an unpretentious, pared-down simplicity that belies the strength, depth and ingenious beauty of the story conveyed in each poem.
To visit Back40’s recent webpage addition, please see the Illustrated Bibliography of Wilma’s body of work with numerous publishers, spanning four decades. I believe this to be ‘the’ comprehensive list; from her first self-published collection in 1973 to the most-recent 2007 posthumous release. Fifteen of the titles listed were self-published [two, possibly three, I have not actually found--yet]; most all listed are\were limited editions and therefore are relatively rare, with the majority of those out of print long ago. However, I am trying to bring more of Ms. McDaniel’s work into view, as time allows. There is also still a fair quantity of Wilma’s material that never made it into any of her published titles and was never submitted for inclusion in the number of poetry journals listed either.
Known literary publications, poetry journals, or anthologies that included prose or poetry submissions by Wilma are also listed [alphabetically] directly below the above-mentioned
Bibliography, [just scroll down further]. More details will be added as discoveries are made.
Of note, ARTLIFE, a limited edition monthly art journal published out of Ventura, CA had a page or two featuring the poet’s work for a stretch of months in the late ’90s through early ’00s [issues #196-271], with a special tribute edition [vol. 20 #2, issue #211; depicted above] that included an expanded section highlighting Wilma and her poetry.
Available on film is Down an Old Road -- The Poetic Life of Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel, a documentary about her life and work that debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 2001. Contact director\producer Chris Simon at: sagelandmedia@gmail.com regarding availability of the DVD version. Upon seeing Chris’s film and hearing Wilma read her own work, viewers can discover the spirit of Wilma, what her poetry evokes, and the weight of her contribution to contemporary American literature.
Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel’s life and poetry was also featured in Red Dirt, Growing Up Okie,
http://www.okreadsok.org by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, copyright 1997 Verso Press, London, UK. In it, Wilma’s poetry is prominently featured as frontpieces for many of the chapters. The final chapter, Epilogue: California Litany, focuses on Dunbar-Ortiz’s initial discovery and meeting of Ms. McDaniel and the profound impact McDaniel and her writings had on the author; essentially giving her the insight to complete her manuscript for Red Dirt and send it off for publishing.
For more about Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel, visit the other pages devoted to Wilma on this site; and, visit the Nevada County Library website to read more of her poetry and hear audio recordings of Wilma reading some of her work.
Also, DRY CRIK Review has some wonderful additional poetry and material in tribute to Wilma, from Wilma’s friend and fellow poet, John Dofflemyer, through the Western Folklife Center. Of note, John’s most recent book of new and selected work, Poems from Dry Creek, has been chosen as the ‘Outstanding Poetry Book’ for 2008 by the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.
All poetry and prose of Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel presented here and on the adjoining webpages are
© 2009 Back40 Publishing, Sebastopol, California; and are posted on the pages of this website in tribute to,
in memory of, and as an informative resource highlighting the late poet and her literary legacy
All photographic portraits of Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel © their respective photographers and seen here by permission
Comments? To reach Back40 Publishing, please contact: james@back40publishing.com (back to top) (back to home page)
