H. L. Liptak :: The Flabbyman ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: Growing up in South Carolina we whispered ghost stories about the Gray Man, plateyes, or the Lovely Lady when we snuck past crooked iron gates into grave yards covered with kudzu and ancient oaks dripping with Spanish...
Henry Stevens :: The Definition ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born in the Halifax County, Virginia and other than two years I spent doing undergraduate in China, I never lived anywhere else but the South. I finished my undergraduate at Duke in North Carolina, and...
Ken Wheaton :: Mother of the Year ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: One of my first instances of writing for the public was telling the college cafeteria that their “gumbo” was so wrong that it was an affront to Southern Louisiana and all its people. I was a veritable...
Juan Cruz :: Not Dark Yet ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born in Bogotá, Colombia. I moved to the US when I was in my twenties. I lived in South Carolina for almost a decade. I earned a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of...
Nancy Werking Poling :: Oscar’s Bane ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: My regional identity is confused. Though born in Indiana, I grew up in Orlando before Disney and attended Robert E. Lee Junior High, where we flew a Confederate flag. After living in the Chicago area for almost...
John Riley ::What Did She Lose?::
Southern Legitimacy Statement A field did stretch between our old house in Randolph County, with its recently exposed plumbing that froze every winter, and a much nicer house across the field. The people who lived in the nice house wanted...
Noah Banta :: A City’s Lagniappe History Of Old And New People ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: Spent my entire life living in a town being constantly expanded upon where I can’t remember ever being a time where a highway wasn’t being constructed over my house or a night sleep without the muffler of...
Lorena Pimentel :: Gummy Bears ::
If the South is a state of mind and all we need is a good old penchant for mysteries and a mosaic of everythig we’ve know, the Globl South is my South. I am a writer, editor and translator from...
Ellen Perry :: The Door ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement -I was born in North Carolina and lived here all my life (almost 50 years, now, good Lord). Dad is from east Tennessee, Mom from Georgia – I’m a hybrid, then, of Deep South and Appalachian sensibilities....
Jessica Arzola-Grissom :: Her Pretty Little Head ::
Southern Legitimacy My great-grandmother’s name was Cinderella and she settled in Nederland, TX. The family didn’t quite live up to the fairy-tale name and several people moved just south of Dallas. That’s when I entered the picture. My Mama is...
Nancy Werking Poling :: Oscar’s Bane ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement My regional identity is confused. Though born in Indiana, I grew up in Orlando before Disney and attended Robert E. Lee Junior High, where we flew a Confederate flag. After living in the Chicago area for almost...
C. K. North :: Cardinals ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: Northern Virginia – The South by definition, but not by heart. I was born and raised here, enjoying a childhood with farms, general stores, apple orchards, and civil war artifacts found in frequently yards and creeks. Suburbia...
Matthew Cullifer :: The Big Bass ::
I’ve lived in the southwest corner of Georgia all of my forty-seven years. Cows and lightning bugs outnumber the people. Lynyrd Skynyrd is the finest American rock band of all time, and Lewis Grizzard wrote real literature. Saturdays in the...
Theresa Jones :: Hundred Dollar Shoes ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born and raised Roll Tide. I learned to cook with three spices: salt, pepper, and bacon fat. I was a young adult before I ever heard of barbecued beef. Barbecue sauce was white. In the...
Christopher S. Bell :: Stream ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: My South is steam rising up from the lake water and a wealth of abandoned antiquieties sitting on shelves, thier paint slowly fading from the heat. It’s an empty space that flakes like skin and haunts from...
David Newdorf :: Amor vincit omnia ::
I was born, raised, educated, married, raised kids, and divorced south of the Mason Dixon line — just a few thousand miles away on the the West Coast. At other times, I’ve lived in South Florida, partied in NOLA, been...
Lucas Zuehl :: Emily ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I used to live in Texas, and it was the only place in the US where people would come up and talk to me without selling me something. Emily A low banging pulses throughout her head. At...
Leo Coffey :: Gutted ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born and raised in a small community in Western North Carolina. I come from a long line of trade workers, musicians, and storytellers. The South is my home. Gutted The glow of the moon overhead...
Susan Pepper Robbins :: Fred Speaks at Last ::
My Southern Legitimacy Statement is this: I have lived in rural Virginia for 75 years and seen the public schools integrated, the white flight schools close and some Confederate Statues come down. I love the good parts of the South:...
P. A. Knight :: La-Z-Boy ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born in Richmond, Virginia and still live there. My momma was from Franklin County and grew up on bootleg money. My daddy’s from Johnson City, Tennessee. When it’s warm I try to jump in the...
Kenneth M. Kapp :: Bragging Rights ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I’ve been in the south. Got shot at running rural streets in Raleigh, NC; ran free on the levees in New Orleans. Love Faulkner. Parents & in-laws retired in Florida. Almost died from fire ants in Tarpon...
June Sylvester Saraceno :: Charming Bed and Breakfast in English Countryside ::
I was born and raised in rural North Carolina. I left the South in my mid-twenties, but the South never left me. Now on the other side of the country–out West–when I talk about home, I’m usually talking about eastern...
Edward Michael Supranowicz :: A Hundred years From Now ::
Legit: I actually like grits and okra and somewhat understand the everyday despair in Faulkner. A Hundred years From Now There had been 10 pandemics since the first. There also had been two World Wars, 6 race wars, and 3...
Darla Hitchcock :: I Was Either the Chaperone or the Comic Relief ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I grew up Southern. Southern California, that is, though my cousins moved to North Carolina (still south!) when we were young teens. So, I’ve spent a significant amount of time in the sticky south. I’m definitely in...
Dwight Hinson :: You Don’t Meet Many Poets Down at the Slaughterhouse Anymore ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I’ve heard it both ways. I was born at the Boyce Clinic in Hohenwald Tennessee, or at my grandparents’ house in Napier in Lewis County, a defunct ore mining community deserving of a metal sign. They are...
Poetry
Essays
