Born in 1874, William Edmondson grew up on the land where his parents had once been slaves. He had no formal schooling and did grueling work as a hired hand until he left to find work in Nashville. Edmondson began having religious visions when he was still a boy. At the age of 57, he heard God tell him to carve a tombstone—it was the beginning of his career as an artist. Within a few years, Edmondson’s work was attracting national and international acclaim. Poet Elizabeth Spires gives voice to this extraordinary, plainspoken man, and to some of his subjects in stone, in a series of poems that are paired with striking black-and-white photographs taken of Edmondson and his works. “I’se just doing the Lord’s work. / It ain’t got much style. / God don’t want much style, but He gives you wisdom / and speeds you along.” (“A Conversation”). A biographical essay about Edmondson and his art, along with a selected bibliography, complete this distinctive portrait of a singular artist. (Age 14 and older)