Category: Poetry

The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature
Poetry

Karen Chinetti: Three Poems

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I am a resident of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, daughter of a native North Carolinian, and graduate of Northern Kentucky University. I'm southern by choice and birth. My poetry has a little hint of southern influence, too. Poetry Editor’s Note: The Dead Mule wishes to congratulate Karen Chinetti on the occasion of her first published poems. **
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The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature
Poetry

Pris Campbell: Two Poems

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born and raised in a small town with one stoplight and one caution light in South Carolina. I still would do almost anything for a platter of fried okra or fried green tomatoes. I never have learned to pronounce the 'g' in words ending in 'ing' and don't intend to. My father invented to perfection the secret hush hush barbecue recipe for the Lion's Club annual all night wood-smoked cooking and basting of the pig the town feasted on the next day. And we in the south know real barbecue isn't just meat tossed on a grill with a bottle of red stuff poured on it. My great-grandfather fought in the Civil War. He owned a mule. That mule is now dead. **
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The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature
Poetry

Lori Blake: Two Poems

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born in North Carolina. My first home was a 12’ X 48’ mobile home situated on a red clay patch that had once been a watermelon field. I lived a free range childhood, spending many a day avoiding summer heat by hiding deep in the woods, catching crayfish and minnows in the creek, observing termites on old logs, or trying to push my brothers into the creek beside of the big rock we were convinced housed a snake. We roamed in a pack, which probably explains the lack of wildlife sightings during my childhood years. Imagine ten children running barefoot down a trail their feet knew by heart, knowing just when to jump to clear the old hog fence now hidden by vines. We ruled the woods, and thought we ruled the world! It was not until many years had passed that I would realize how rare that kind of freedom really is. It was not until I moved to Europe in the early 1990’s (my husband was Army) that I realized that 1) I did indeed have a Southern accent 2) Not everyone puts slaw on a hot dog and 3) a toboggan is a sled, not a hat! Well, who knew? My hiatus from the south was brief, and I am now back to stay. While I love to travel, I will always come home to where the dirt is orange, the tea is sweet, and dead mules are mourned. **
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The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature
Poetry

Jean Rodenbough: Two Poems

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I've been published before in Dead Mule, and I'm still a Southerner. I have trouble identifying which Southern state is which on a map if the name is missing—states south of North Carolina, anyway. But I can't find France on a world map either unless it bears a title. I eat collard greens occasionally, grits at breakfast (my mother served grits at dinner), fried chicken when I get tired of other kinds of meat, but I don't care much for mince meat pie. . . . **
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The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature
Poetry

Michelle Hartman: Two Poems

Southern Legitimacy Statement: Michelle Hartman was left on a doorstep in Fort Worth lo these many years ago by a band of post-reactionary, Pagan Gypsies. After a grueling four years at the Martha Stewart School for Exceptional Females she took her rightful place beside the lucky man who won her in the county "Ho Down". She's taking a break today from polishing silver, planning a week of gourmet meals, buffing the handcuffs nicks off the headboard, and building one hundred and twenty rabbit figures from various sizes of marshmallows, to share her poetry and short thoughts on a complete life. **
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The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature
Poetry

Nicole Yurcaba: White December

Southern Legitimacy Statement: Nicole Yurcaba is a West Virginian bear huntin' poet, backwoods feminist, farm hand, adjunct instructor of English—basically a Jill-of-all-trades-mistress-to-none. Her family on the maternal side hails from Southern West Virginia and Kentucky. She is finely trained in the Southern art of bear huntin' and 'coon-huntin' with hound (RIP--IKE). When not writing poetry or short stories, she enjoys outfishing and outhunting her father and boyfriend in the wild mountains of eastern West Virginia. In the schools where she teaches, she is the only instructor to teach class while wearing cowgirl-cut Wranglers, Laredo cowboy boots, and a Confederate flag belt buckle. In life, she refuses to buy a map; doing so could ruin everything. **
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The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature
Poetry

Jamie Poole: All of me

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born and raised in Saraland, AL. I love biscuits, cheese grits, and okra. All of my words have at least two syllables, and I've been cow tippin. I am legit. :) **
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The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature
Poetry

Jim Davis: In a Coffee Shop in the Plaza on Weed Street

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I spent this weekend past in Bethesda, Maryland, burying and celebrating my Grandmother – a Williams/Davis/Hoover who first was Pessou, a branch of the Louisiana swamp grass family come east upon the war of northern aggression. The small clapboard church atop the hill in which she and our family have gone to rest since the 1700s is lined with framed etchings of Generals Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee; acorns from the chapel’s ancient oak are planted across the south, east, mid- and mountain west in her honor. Davises, many, have been schooled at Sewanee (the University of the South), and my Godfather, Bob, went to earn his MD at the U. of Tennessee. Mine come from the southern banks of the Mississippi and the horse pastures of Rattle and Snap, where southern charm, manners, and hospitality have not been lost on the branches of the Davis tree – not too an affinity for vodka-lemonade on a dusky sun porch, finding ways to beat the heat, and life with deep appreciation of our firmly planted roots. **
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The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature
Poetry

Tanya Grae: Four Poems

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born in Sumter, South Carolina while Daddy was stationed at Shaw, though I consider Tennessee home. Uprooted and moved cross-country many times during childhood, summers were spent in Smyrna at Mema and Daddy Tom’s, plus sleep overs at Aunt Ada’s (say A-der). I grew up on fried chicken, bbq, bacon, pinto beans, chow-chow, and fried pies. Nene (Mema’s mama) always crumbled her cornbread in a china cup and ate it like cereal. Daddy Tom was Smyrna’s judge for years, and everyone knows everyone, so don’t go airing your drawers out. Manners are so important, how you speak to others, and offer concern and respect, that you can spot a Yankee right away. I was raised on yes, sir, and no, ma’am, and that’s just how it is. If it wasn’t, well there was surely a switch with my name on it out in the yard. My Cherokee grandmother, Mama Red, was too sweet for that, and she’s the only saint I know. A Southern woman is the strongest spirit, so don’t go kicking her like the dog you hate or a half-dead mule—cause fool, you just won’t.
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The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature
Poetry

Denise K. James: Four poems

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I grew up in Florence, South Carolina and now reside in Charleston. The coast is where I feel most at home, inhaling the scent of the marsh and making post-beach sandwiches with homegrown tomatoes.
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