Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born and raised in Missouri and now live (very, very) close to Atlanta. With the exception of college, I have spent my entire life in the South. Mud An assassin’s doctorAncient brick starter materialSling to insultFacial mask soothingEye socket counterpart during champagne toastingGhost pottery wheel…

SOUTHERN LEGITIMACY STATEMENT I was conceived on a houseboat on the Ashley River in Charleston, South Carolina and was born in Monroe, North Carolina first year of the Baby Boomers. I got my undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. My kin, Irish immigrants to North…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: Dear Ms. MacEwan, I should not feel the need to apologize for living now in Ontario, for your name suggests first generation roots in Scotland, or at least Nova Scotia. My claim to a southern heritage comes from growing up early outside Atlanta before it became a “real”…

“12th of February, waiting on spring” February night the color of jackdaws the color of sleep under blankets the taste of dreams. Names are lost faces blurry and puffy like bad teeth in photos from another age. War again. Peace was the last bit of silver, a touch of sun….

The Southern legitimacy statement: I was raised by jackalopes. Among them were Jim Boatwright, Liz Morgan, and Dabney Stuart. Floyd A pregnant spider twists on the end of her line her web breaks my cigarette’s smoke into a hundred pieces smell of grilled pork caresses my face father-in-law smokes over…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: Dear editors, if born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, doesn’t qualify for a head to toe, imbued southerner, don’t read my poem.For twenty years, I have belonged to the Live Poets’ Society of Boca Grande, Florida, where I spend the winter these days. We published an anthology a…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: My family and I come from Georgia, and while they have mostly died off or moved further south, I still say I hail from Atlanta. Great-great grandfather wore grey and fought in The War while my granddaddy was a used car salesman. My daddy was a dirt farmer…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I am a native Virginian who has lived in Boston and Philadelphia. I am back in Virginia and enjoy connecting with my southern roots. I write poetry, short fiction, and I act, and paint. Little Pools In your deep moonlight Where the sun and the little stars shine…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I grew up across from cotton fields in Shreveport, Louisiana with my Mama and sister, back when anything south of of the city that wasn’t covered in cotton was covered in kudzu. Not too far from our home was a rise in the landscape behind which the Red…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born in the South, deeper, in fact, than my father and mother, both of who relocated from southern Georgia and southern Mississippi respectively. I attended college in Charleston, South Carolina, at The Citadel which, contrary to the experience of most alumnae, widened my worldview. Thus,…

“Holman’s House” by Darrell Grayson This chapbook will always be available on the Dead Mule. It is not archived. It is published in memory of Mr. Grayson who was executed by the state of Alabama on July 26, 2007. These poems were, for the most part, committed to memory and…

Snippets of Holiness A Chapbook of Collected and New Poems by Helen Losse *** I. Poems from Gathering the Broken Pieces (FootHills Publishing, Kanona, NY, 2004) Voices I want to eat ambrosia, dine with the gods. Dance. Seraphim at the gate, velvet-winged. “A plea is not a call,” says the…

No southern legitimacy statement but we have an autobiography: Jessica (Tyner) Mehta is a Cherokee poet and novelist. She’s the author of six collections of poetry including the forthcoming Savagery , the forthcoming Constellations of My Body, Secret-Telling Bones, Orygun, What Makes an Always, and The Last Exotic Petting Zoo as…

A FAST FOOD BURGER Late last night I was in a bad mood, So I sought the comfort of eating fast food. I bought a burger with a side of fries, And I’m ashamed to admit they were both supersized. On my very first bite, the bun was stale, The…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born in Richmond, Virginia and raised on a thoroughbred race horse farm in nearby Ashland. My upbringing pulses in my veins: I have been blessed by both earth and animal. Shooting Holes in Signs Grandpa’s .22 bolt action, plus a pocketful of plinking bullets. Dependable,…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I used to be illegitimately Southern, living in South Florida until recently, now having completed my first year in the Tarheel state of NC. I grew up in a family that made fun of Southerners and now that I have gotten to know some of them quite…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: Native to Virginia and long-resident in Georgia, I’m as Southern as Southern can be. (Let’s not talk about the seven-year stretch in New Jersey.) A prominent Mid-Western poet once told me during a workshop, “I could listen to you read the phone book.” Jaunt Aboard the ferry in…

Southern Legitimacy Statement:  I am a native-born Oklahoma poet who’s work is inspired by nature, class, and life experiences that were shaped by my Southern family. The poem is inspired by a recent family vacation to Gulf Shores, Alabama and how a person might try to escape their Southern upbringing, but…

Flashing Mirrors at a House Built in 1742, III I leaned against the largest maple tree, planted hungry years before upon a leech trench, watching my going out of me at play and shining the souls of mirrors back, telling each other what we knew. I loved him from the…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: My wife and I own a 130 acre farm in Franklin, Tennessee. We have a parcel of horses and grow grass, i.e. hay. Before we bought the spread the only way to the house was across a ford. We put in a covered bridge over the creek and…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: Though my genetic roots were not planted in Southern soil, a brief sojourn in San Antonio, Texas provided me with a life-changing experience. Southern culture and literature has been a strong influence in my writing. Five Poems BAD NIGHT IN VIRGINIA We dug up ol’ Leroy last…

SOUTHERN LEGITIMACY STATEMENT I was conceived on a houseboat on the Ashley River in Charleston, South Carolina and was born in Monroe, North Carolina first year of the Baby Boomers. I got my undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. My kin, Irish immigrants to North…

My Southern Legitimacy Statement: My parents hailed from small communities about an hour north of Baltimore, places where front porch sittin’ and strawberry eatin’ were the norm during the longest days of June. I remember my mother’s dad liked his smashed, with a pinch of sugar to make them syrupy,…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: All of my ancestors before my generation were born in Alabama. Because my father as a career Army man, I was born in a military hospital. But every summer, we went “home” to Alabama to see grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles. We moved to Alabama after my dad’s…