Lou Crabtree

I wish I had the opportunity to meet Lou Crabtree. She was a native of Washington County, Virginia. 

She died in 2006, just as I was starting to think of myself as a real writer.

​Some of her poetry boggles the mind. For her biography and more information about her work, click here.

One of my favorite poems of hers is called "He Cut My Garden Down." Its stark imagery and matter-of-fact verse convey how a wife can come to hate an abusive and oppressive husband.

​The Commonwealth of Virginia declared her a Laureate of Literature in 1988.