Pete Riebling :: Friendlessness ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: went to college in Atlanta… Friendlessness I went to college with a guy who was a little more intelligent than the professors he studied under. Not more intelligent. Savvier. He was able to figure out what they wanted...
Kelsey Erica Tran :: The True Meaning of Culture ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: Growing up in Maryland, I got to experience summer bbqs and grilling burgers during the Fourth of July. Urban barbecue was a local chain that reminds me of my childhood. After taking swimming lessons during the summer,...
Ted Harrison :: This Year a Kayak ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I am born and bred in the South and I have been fortunate to have some of my scribbling published in this journal. In the past I have written of my attempts to pick cotton on my...
Alan Brickman :: Said and Unsaid ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I have lived in New Orleans since 2009, after being raised in New York and spending most of my adult life in Massachusetts. Never having lived in New York City as an adult, I feel like a...
J. O. Winberry :: Birdhouse ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I am perhaps somewhat controversially Southern in that I was born and raised, and currently reside, in Southern California. We are the nail in the boot, the thorn in the side, the worm in the tequila of...
John Frame :: Night Out in Cow Town ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I spent a year living in Charlotte, North Carolina between 1996 and 1997, teaching at UNC-Charlotte and conducting historical research with the help of scholarships from Nations Bank and the St. Andrew’s Society of North Carolina. There...
Casey Clough :: The Hunter ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born and raised in South Carolina. I didn’t learn to love her until long after I’d left her. I dashed out the sweet lilt of an accent in my voice with over enunciated consonants, diligently...
Roger D’Agostin :: Rough Kisses ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: Flannery O’Connor, need I say more? Rough Kisses Before I even say, “Once. Once, this girl.” All of them laugh. Like I just said the funniest thing they ever heard in their life. Like I could make...
Margaret Donovan Bauer :: Well, Bless Your Heart ::
Southern legitimacy statement–As I tell my students, I am from as far South as you can get: Franklin, Louisiana is at the bottom of the state. I grew up on the Bayou Teche there, in a plantation house my parents...
Vincent Worsley :: The Dogs Are Out ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, in the suburb belly of hill country. My neighborhood is prowled by feral cats and the occasional stray dog— those dogs are the core of this poem, “The...
Mia Eaker :: Red Lipstick ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born and raised in Pumpkin Center aka Punkin’ Center, North Carolina. I’ve drank moonshine, gathered fresh eggs, fallen into cow manure, and been shocked by an electric fence. Cornbread and story-telling were staples around our...
Lindsey McIntosh :: Tragedy of Mrs. McQueen :: When Rivers Run Red ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: Southern Appalachia is home. The mountains have consistently entered their service as the building blocks of what it means to be alive. Within its peaks and valleys, I was raised by fearless women–their strength and light guided...
Kyla Houbolt :: Where We Went ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: Once, near the coast of NC, (where I was born and raised) I watched a man wheel the entire carcass of a frozen dead pig into the front door of the Piggly Wiggly. I guess it was...