A. C. Lambert: “Poem to that great big Boss in the sky”
Southern Legitimacy Statement:
I kissed a girl once in a fellowship hall. And no I'm not telling you who it was—she still goes to church there.
Cynthia Manick: “Ethel September”
Southern Legitimacy Statement:
Fish sandwiches after church. Blue hallelujahs. Gossip. Grits on toasted Wonder Bread, never wheat. And tea so sweet, it makes your teeth hurt. I’m a northern transplant but Santee, South Carolina is my original home. People visit there now for its golf courses and to drink at Myrtle Beach. But I miss the paper plant that smelled like sugar when crossing the bridge, my grandfather’s shop that sold boiled turtle eggs and bootleg crab, and the red ants and bullfrogs that followed me around during the summers.
JD DeHart: “Coffee Cans”
Southern Legitimacy Statement:
I am a resident of Tennessee and grew up in West Virginia. My poems come from life in the South.
Mark Windham: “Different Flowers”
Southern Legitimacy Statement:
Born in Mississippi before living in Kentucky, Texas, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida (in the South, but not Southern) and settling in Georgia.
It is not 'hot' until above 95, nor humid below 95%. Anything less is 'muggy' at best.
Catfish is only meant to be cooked by frying in cornmeal. Blackened is acceptable if a fryer is not available and you have kin from New Orleans to tell you how.
Sweet potatoes are a vegetable.
Cornbread does not contain flour, only cornmeal, and it is best served for breakfast Monday morning extra crispy with butter and sorghum.
Most parts of every meal can be cooked in a cast iron skillet, possibly the same one. Sometimes at the same time.
Poetry
Essays
