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Cynthia Rylant



Cynthia Rylant was born on June 6, 1954 in Hopewell, Virginia. Her parents had an unhappy marriage and were divorced when she was four years old. Rylant is her mother's maiden name.



Her mother then took her to live with her grandparents in Cool Ridge, West Virginia in the 1960's while her mother went to nursing school. She lived in a 4-room house with no electricity or running water. They grew and hunted most of their food.






When she was eight years old, Cynthia and her mother moved to Beaver, West Virginia to live in a 3-room apartment beside the railroad tracks.



In high school, she was a majorette in the band. She had a boyfriend named Eddie who worked in a gas station. They were going to get married after high school and live in a trailor...But they broke up.





She then decided to go to college and she attended what is now known as the University of Charleston. She later completed her Master's degree in English at Marshall University.



After leaving college, she worked as a waitress until she got a job working in the children's section at the Akron Public Library. She became a professional librarian and completed her Master's of Library Science degree at Kent State University in Ohio.





Cynthia traces her real interest in poetry when she saw a display in college which had poetry written by David Huddle. It inspired her to create poems that celebrate the lives of those who live with "quiet dignity".



In 1993, she donated her manuscripts to the library at Kent State University. At this time, she then moved to Eugene, Oregon.





Finally in May of 1994, Something Permanent was published. Cynthia became inspired by the famous photographer, Walker Evans. His legendary photos from the Depression prompted Rylant to write poems to match the scenes from the 1930's.





One of her poems was called: The Hitchhiker


He told her that if she'd come with him
they could stay at his sister's in Vicksburg
then catch the Greyhound north for Pennsylvania,
and maybe there he'd find work and they'd make it some way.
She asked how was he going to buy two bus tickets to Pittsburgh when he didn't have even a dime,
and he said he'd offer to drive the bus halfway,
and this made some kind of desperate sense to her and she went.



TO LEARN MORE ABOUT CYNTHIA RYLANT, CHECK OUT HER WEBSITE AT http://www.rylant.com




WEBPAGE CREATED BY EMILY A. EASTER 01/24/2000

Other Poems from Something Permanent

Photograph
Shoes
Tombstone
Cafe