Category: Poetry

Poetry

Lee Daniels: Poetry: March 2022

Southern Legitimacy Statement: Lee received his MFA from the School of Letters, University of the South, Sewanee, TN. Morning Meditation A bell is ringingFor someone’s first puja.And meanwhile IAm making a prayerOf my own:A meditation on the sounds ofDaybreak:The cawing...
Poetry

Margaret Bauer: Poetry: March 2022

Southern legitimacy statement: I am originally from south Louisiana, where I grew up on the Bayou Teche. I now call eastern North Carolina home, where I live part-time on the Pamlico River. I teach at East Carolina University. I’ve written...
Poetry

Bill Griffin: Poetry: Feb 2022

Southern Legitimacy Statement: My greatlygreatgrandfather Thomas Griffin moved from Virginia after the Revolution and settled in Union County NC in the 1780’s. Evidently a few other Griffins came south around the same time, therefore I am NOT related to EVERY...
Poetry

Grey Held: Poetry: Jan 2022

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I grew up in the capital of the Confederacy, a stone’s throw from the James River. My dad grew up on Monument Avenue, a stone’s throw from the Jefferson Davis monument. My grandpa used to say “you...
Poetry

James King: Poetry: Jan 2022

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born and raised one block south of the southern shore of Lake Erie, not far from the Cuyahoga River, which back then was redder than the reddest red clay of Georgia. We didn’t brag about...
Poetry

Ava B. Emmerson: Poetry: Dec 2021

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born and raised in Philadelphia (Southeastern Pennsylvania), which is south of the rest of Pennsylvania. For the last few years I’ve lived in North Carolina, which is actually traditionally considered to be “The South,” and,...
Poetry

Christina Baumis: Poetry : Nov 2021

Southern Legitimacy Statement: Not a native but I have settled in both Carolinas longer than an eye on a tater. Appreciating over a duo of decades away from kin and my midwestern roots to savor Blue Ridge mountain hikes and...
Poetry

Rose Jenny: Poetry: Nov 2021

Southern Legitimacy Statement: As a trans woman, I am happy to see you all seeking to create opportunities for a diverse array of southern voices and would love to be a part of realizing that goal. I grew up in...
Poetry

Paul Jones: Poetry: Nov 2021

Southern Legitimacy Statement: Paul Jones was born in Hickory, NC. He did started his growing up in Charlotte, then spent four years at NC State. Having been at NC State allowed him to teach for 40 years at the University...
Poetry

Nathaniel Thames: Poetry: Nov 2021

Southern Legitimacy Statement: We don’t say ‘I’m from the South’ here. I usually don’t have to say where I’m from. People know our Texas from the way we talk, slow. The way we walk, with a purpose. The way we...
Poetry

R. A. Allen : Poetry: Nov 2021

Southern Legitimacy Statement: With the exception of four years in Starkville, Mississippi and short stretch in Lexington, Kentucky, I have lived my life in Memphis, Tennessee, which is actually more Arkansan and Mississippian than Tennesseean. It’s a city of light,...
Poetry

Tom Daley : Poetry : Nov 2021

Southern Legitimacy Statement: Perhaps some would say that as a transplanted Yankee, I could only write a Southern Illegitimacy Statement, but I lived in the South between the age of 8 and the age of 23. I got my hands...
Poetry

Marie Griffin: Poetry: Oct 2021

Southern Legitimacy Statement: The simple fact of being a South Carolinian is enough to qualify me as southern, but i feel my inner southerner is a result of being a Barnet woman. A Barnet woman will rip a person to...