Grey Held: Poetry: Jan 2022
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I grew up in the capital of the Confederacy, a stone’s throw from the James River. My dad grew up on Monument Avenue, a stone’s throw from the Jefferson Davis monument. My grandpa used to say “you...
KD Smith: Creative Non-Fiction: Jan 2022
Southern Legitimacy Statement: “Stop bein’ ugly or I’ll paint your back porch red.” Jerked from the reverence of a funeral graveside prayer because the fire ants have crawled into your sandals, driving nails into your feet. Sitting on the porch...
Shelia Arnold: Memoir: Jan 2022
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I’ve lived in West Tennessee all of my life, and though I believe myself to be the most polished of my siblings, I still have quite a bit of residue on me. My six brothers and I...
Matthew Stokes: Memoir: Jan 2022
Southern Legitimacy Statement: My first cousin initially said it and has reminded me often, “You know where your roots are.” His words were in response to my living and teaching in northern China for two years. I was born in...
Howard Pearre: Memoir: Jan 2022
Southern Legitimacy Statement: You may be from around here if you’ve ever loved how cool June mornings are until about eight, but didn’t mind the afternoon heat as long as there was some shade, a breeze, and a glass of...
Elizabeth Spencer Spragins: Flash Fiction: Jan 2022
My Southern Legitimacy Statement: I went to college in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, home of the Krispy Kreme donut. One of my elders (who shall remain nameless to protect the guilty) once executed an illegal U-turn in downtown Charlotte when he...
James King: Poetry: Jan 2022
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born and raised one block south of the southern shore of Lake Erie, not far from the Cuyahoga River, which back then was redder than the reddest red clay of Georgia. We didn’t brag about...
James Ryer: Essay: Dec 2021
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I frequently think about how the South and it’s defining characteristics, good and bad, exist in other cultures and, more recently, have reflected on that in my writing while carefully cultivating timely opportunities for drinking Coke and...
Trish Cantillon: Memoir: Dec 2021
My Southern Legitimacy Statement: Born and raised in Southern California and smart enough to marry a man from Abilene, Texas who has fostered my love of hush puppies, collard greens, and, DUH, barbecue! The Wrong Job at the Right Time...
Lauren Karcz: Memoir: Dec 2021
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I’m a lifelong Atlantan who’s been known to sit, unfazed, in my hot car in the summertime to finish listening to a song. Even in the city, the notable features of my block are two churches and...
David VanDevelder: Fiction: Dec. 2021
Southern Legitimacy Statement: We were a prototypical southern nuclear family. My Papaw came up in the Great Smokey Mountains, near Farner, Tennessee and Cherokee, North Carolina. When he was nine, he lost track of the time one summer evening, squirrel...
Benjamin Abel: Fiction Part II, Dec 2021
As for my Southern Legitimacy, I was born in Southern Indiana but my parents quickly relocated to Clarksville, Tennessee and then my adopted hometown of Fayetteville, North Carolina. As an Army kid I moved around a lot, but always seemed...
Poetry
Essays
