June Sylvester Saraceno :: Charming Bed and Breakfast in English Countryside ::
I was born and raised in rural North Carolina. I left the South in my mid-twenties, but the South never left me. Now on the other side of the country–out West–when I talk about home, I’m usually talking about eastern...
Michael Lee Johnson :: Halloween Poems ::
Not sure what a Southern Legitimacy Statement is but – in fact I lived in Titusville, Florida and worked at Cape Canaveral between 1966-1969. I also returned after 10 yrs. in exile in Canada the Vietnam War & lived in...
Darla Hitchcock :: I Was Either the Chaperone or the Comic Relief ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I grew up Southern. Southern California, that is, though my cousins moved to North Carolina (still south!) when we were young teens. So, I’ve spent a significant amount of time in the sticky south. I’m definitely in...
Matthew Johnson :: Three Poems for October ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I am not Southern by birth, though the South has become an adopted home, having been a resident of Greensboro, NC for a few years now. I carry many of my upstate New York and New England...
Dwight Hinson :: You Don’t Meet Many Poets Down at the Slaughterhouse Anymore ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I’ve heard it both ways. I was born at the Boyce Clinic in Hohenwald Tennessee, or at my grandparents’ house in Napier in Lewis County, a defunct ore mining community deserving of a metal sign. They are...
Bill Pendergraft :: Three Poems for October ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I am a sixth-generation North Carolinian. I was a high school English teacher in Burgaw, NC and years later an environmental writer/producer who depended on major environmental organizations for my paycheck, although Southerners were sometimes seen as...
Joyce Compton Brown :: Three Poems for October ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: Having grown up in a little mill town hanging balanced between old family farms and local factories, I feel eligible for membership in the Dead mule school,. My family held on to its German American roots and...
Dan Russell :: Red Sky Morning ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I used to race against chickens in the backyard after my Papaw lopped their heads off. I also once inadvertently bought a goat at the sale barn. Red Sky Morning I didn’t sleep well. All night long,...
Jessica Pisano :: Hometown Lies ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born in Jacksonville, Florida, have lived in Asheville, North Carolina, for over thirty years, and feel most at home on the Tybee Island beach. Hometown Lies “No soy de Miami, pero mi abuela es de...
Carol Parris Krauss :: A Four Iron for Bashing Brains & the curls against the back of her neck ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I have eaten liver mush, frog legs, and gator bites. Worn orange overalls and purchased with $2.00, tiger stamped bills at Clemson football games. I have walked the swinging bridge at Grandfather Mountain and known that I...
Marlene DeVere :: My Airline Interview ::
southern legitimacy statement: It’s not just the music or long summers, but the slow and easy breezes and sweet teas that makes Southern exposure life-fulfilling. Schooled in Southern Illinois, thrived in Houston, Texas, and now awake in the setting sun...
stella graham-landau :: just be present ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: i have a snarly relationship with the south. i was born in richmond moved to south carolina back to richmond then north carolina back to richmond stint in ohio back to richmond. always here in spite of...
Rebecca Band :: Making Light of a Thing ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: Driving south down 17, I know when I’m finally home. The distinctive smell that continues to get stronger. It can be overwhelming, and certainly repulsive to some at first, but over time it becomes an oddly welcoming...
CNAME misdirect caused Mule Failure
So, here’s the deal, ya’ll. The CNAME is part of the DNS and the DNS tells the server to open your website. I think? Somehow, in their infinite capacity to screw up websites, GoDaddy changed the CNAME for www.deadmule.com and...
James Ryer :: Sweet Home Alabama ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was raised during the late 1940s to the early 1960s in Central Florida, not usually considered a Deep South state, but still not without some of the South’s more defining aspects at the time such as...
August 2023 Issue
Short and sweet, it’s too gosh darn hot to think. I know you know. Take a few minutes out of your day and peruse a few bits of short fiction. And, thanks to prodding from a friend (you know who...
Ian Mueller :: Unseeing ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: Yeah, I was born in St. Louis, Missouri, but I moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, when I was four. My Midwestern cousins used to tease me about my Southern accent but then I made them listen to...
Susan Mannix :: The Nun’s Lounge ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: The most legit thing I can say is I’m not originally from the south and don’t pretend to be. I’ve lived [barely] below the Mason-Dixon Line most of my adult life and this is now home. My...
Gary Phillips :: Mule and Garden Days Be Praised ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I’m a 69-year old writer who remembers when he was a 13-year old writer, as Octavia Butler was wont to say. Tossed between the Cherokee foothills of South Carolina (my father’s people) and the high mountains near...
Melissa A. Morgan :: Fine Folks ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was raised south of the Mason-Dixon line and east of the Mississippi River. I was raised on yes, ma’am and no, sir. I was raised on lightening bugs and white lightning. I was raised on grits...
Basil McQuade :: Telling Stories/Immaculate Sadness ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I’m southern in the stepson way. I glean from trips and family and stories– and I understand the pieces, if not the whole picture. I know just enough about anything to be seemingly proficient in conversation. It’s...
Florence Nash :: Vidalias ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born and raised in an Eastern North Carolina tobacco town with 6 stoplights and a lot more churches and a whole lot more kin, if you go by the generous Southern interpretation of the term....
Karen Lozinski :: Directions Defy Horizons ::
Here’s my Southern Legitimacy Statement: Is geographic location enough in this instance…? I guess for me, it’s going to have to suffice. I’m from generations of hardcore New Yorkers. The city of my birth, most of my education, and my...
Karsen Thompson :: The Fracture of My Shadow ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I hope this story touches you guys just like it did with me as I wrote it down in my grandmother’s old rustic house in Georgia’s humid state. I remember crying and eating her delicious sweet potato...
Sam Barbee :: “A Dead-On Toss”, “Generous Gods” and “Tiny Dancers”
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born and given away at birth; raised and educated; married and divorced; defiled and defined, and churched, in North Carolina. Southern writers such as Flanner O’Conner and James Dickey molded my fiction and poetry. As...