Carter Welch :: delta works ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: My father’s grandparents moved to Greenville, South Carolina when he was young. He visited them and noticed their accents changing. My mother grew up so far south in Michigan she could walk to the Indiana border. I...
Kirby Wright :: Verse Written During a Movie ::
*I live in Southern California, which is a rival region to the Bay area up north. I followed the EASY RIDER route through the south as a teen and tested the width of Texas before battling impossible fog in Mobile....
Michael Ball :: Admonition ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: Michael Ball scrambled from daily and weekly papers through business and technical pubs. Born in OK and raised in rural WV, he became more citified in Manhattan and Boston. As one of the Hyde Park Poets, he...
E. R. Lutken :: Bonnie Blue ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: Born in Mississippi, raised in Texas on a diet of church, the fiction of Walter Scott, and fishing. Spent a lot of time in other parts since, but now live in Louisiana, and still go fishing. Bonnie...
Scott Piner :: Coloring / Mighty Mississippi ::
SOUTHERN LEGITIMACY STATEMENT: I grew up crossing the Mississippi River each weekend to go four-wheeling, fishing, and running around barefoot. From Quincy, Illinois, to Maywood, Missouri, my dad and I would return to his country roots. I’d watch dad and...
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...
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...
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...
Thomas Macfie :: Edge-of-Water ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born and raised in Sewanee, TN, on the campus of the University of the South, an appellation instigating much debate, angst, and consternation, as well as ecstatic generational joy for some, and excruciating generational pain...
Heather Loudermilk :: Three Poems ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I come from West Virginia folks who moved around after World War II and eventually settled in Bassett, Virginia. I’m a mix of Appalachian and Southern, with an accent that skips quick instead of drawling slowly through...
Melanie McGehee :: Remember Me :: Three Poems ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: Have you heard me talk? No. In that case, I’ve spent all of my 53 years in the rebellious state of South Carolina. I love cornbread and pot liquor. I question wearing white after Labor Day. I...
Almyr L. Bump :: Quiet Splendor; Other Clay; A Harsh Reminder ::
I am a native of Dobson, North Carolina, so yes, I am in fact south of somewhere! I am an infantry officer working as a regional response planner for NORTHCOM Homeland Region I. Quiet Splendor Landmarks and milestones speakto us...
Lisa Kosow :: Jerry Lee Lewis Pushes a Piano into the Ocean :: Three Poems ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born in the Blue Ridge mountains in southwestern Virginia, and those mountains are still imprinted on my soul—I find it necessary to visit and hike there every year. My father raised me on bluegrass music,...
Poetry
Essays
