Mamie Pound: Man in Blue, a short story
Southern Legitimacy Statement: Mamie Pound lives in Columbus, Georgia. Man in Blue She was in the garden, a hoe in one hand, a cup of coffee in the other, a wool sweater over her nightgown. “Excuse me, ma’am,” he said,...
Joey Holland: When a Ten Cent Cigar Cost a Dime and a Quaalude Cost Three Bucks
Southern Legitimacy Statement: My family never hid our crazy folks; they generally sat on the front porch and enjoyed the breeze just like the family who weren’t crazy. Come to think of it, we all had some crazy mixed in...
Alan Good: Paris (When I Die) a short story
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I grew up in southwest Missouri. My parents were divorced, and they both lived in trailers. That’s not so much a Southern thing as an economic one. I never really thought of myself as Southern, even though I...
Aimee Keeble: Red Dog, a short story
Southern Legitimacy Statement: Growing up in Florida during the war with Iraq I saw the resulting effects ravage a generation of young men with all good intentions. Red Dog Mama cracked an egg and I fell out punch drunk that’s how...
Walter B. Thompson: Death and Christmas, a short story
Southern Legitimacy Statement I was born and raised in Nashville. My mother’s people come from Shelbyville, Tennessee, where the pencil factories are. My father was born in Columbia, Mississippi, just like Walter Payton. His mother, who we called Mama Tee,...
Peter Stavros: Smoke, a short story
Southern Legitimacy Statement: Although a Northerner by birth (NYC), I was raised in Eastern Kentucky where my family returned after Dad was done working for J. Edgar and the Feds. I attended college in North Carolina before I too was pulled...
Carolyn Flynn : Improvising
Southern Legitimacy Statement: My Southern Legitimacy Statement: I am a native-born Kentuckian with a journalism degree from the University of Kentucky and quite a few past newspaper lives in the Bluegrass State and one in Mississippi, which is where I really...
Dale Wisely: Dead Bulls
Southern Legitimacy Statement: Dale Wisely grew up in rural Arkansas. His father didn’t speak much, but Dale remembers these two things his father said: (1) Son, your oil is the lifeblood of anything mechanical and (2) Boy, you get back in...
CL Bledsoe: Going to Jackson
Going to Jackson We left Sara standing outside a gas station in Jackson, Mississippi, waiting for her Mom, who lived just down the street. “You better go before she sees you,” Sara said, hugging me. “Thanks.” “No problem,” I...
Audrey Wick: Blown
SLS: I am Texas born/raised and can write as well as I can two-step. But weddings can make my stomach sick, just like my main character in “Blown.” Blown Weddings always made my stomach sick. My older brother Juno’s first...
Bobby Wilson: Greens
Southern Legitimacy Statement: My father calls it Lou-Z-anna, Winnfield to be exact. Home of Huey Long and two other governors. The shotgun house he grew up in still stands. Greens On Saturday we go to 李敏’s (li3min3) parents’ house for...
Claire Fullerton: Perfect Circle
Southern Legitimacy Statement: Claire Fullerton is from Memphis, Tennessee, which immediately brings to mind the Mississippi River; the bridge that hovers over it on its way to Arkansas in the graceful shape of the letter M; historic Beale Street, Victorian...
Stephen Harris: Stronger Than Breath
Southern Legitimacy Statement: Stephen Harris is from Cayce, SC and currently lives in Raleigh, NC. He eats a biscuit for breakfast every Friday because he used to eat a biscuit for breakfast everyday. He just ate a Cheerwine donut and...
Rob O’Hara: A Mouthful of Eel
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born and raised in Oklahoma. I spent the first half of my life trying to get out of this state and, after moving to the northwest for a couple of years, hightailed it back as...
Nathan Leslie: Until Further Notice
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I have lived in the Commonwealth of Virginia since 2002. Until Further Notice I can keep a secret. I always could. So when IBC approached me about running the motel, I jumped on the op. Living there was...
Poetry
Essays
