Adreyo Sen: Poetry
The following is my Southern Legitimacy Statement: I just loved “Gone With the Wind.” For the longest time, I wanted to be Melanie. Now, I am inching towards Scarlett. The Knowable On quiet streets Barely kissed by the sun, A...
Tim Mattamoe: Poetry
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I live in quiet retirement in Chatham County, the gem of the Carolina Central Piedmont. I once taught history in Beaufort County, the pearl of the Carolina Coastal Plain. I am American by birth, Southerner because I...
Claire Fullerton: Visiting Como, MS (essay/memoir)
Southern Legitimacy Statement: Though Claire Fullerton resides in Southern California, she considers herself a Southern writer. Having been reared in Memphis, she’ll be the first to tell you that you can take the girl out of the South, but never the...
Kathryn Stripling Byer: Three Poems from 2007
Kathryn Stripling Byer has not forgotten her southern roots. True, she was North Carolina’s Poet Laureate in 2007. True, she has received accolades and praise. True, she is very, very busy. But when the Mule contacted her, asking for poems....
Warren Hines: The Thing About Dancers in Buenos Aires… (memoir)
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I grew up in a decaying town in the Mississippi Delta as an attorney’s son with riverboat captain uncles who treasure few worldly pleasures more than whiskey and a good story. The Thing About Dancers in Buenos Aires…...
Christopher Allen: Father-Son Activity (short fiction)
My Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was raised “in town,” which means Nashville, but my mother’s family comes from Bell Buckle, which is near Hatchet Holler where my mother was born (she says “borned”) in a shack that has probably succumbed...
Ted Harrison: Pop and Water Oaks (short fiction)
MY SOUTHERN LEGITIMACY STATEMENT I am a born and bred North Carolinian. My life has included having my pictured made with Al “Lash” LaRue at the State Theatre in Salisbury. I met Andy Griffith and even took his picture. My younger...
Bobbi Lynn Neely: The Strength of An Illusion (memoir)
Southern Legitimacy Statement: First… her name is Bobbi Lynn. I mean, really. Bobbi Lynn was born and raised in The Carolinas. She grew up in a small town where her school principal often commented publicly on how well those Neely...
Jean Yeager: The Invisibles Are Back (memoir)
The Southern Legitimacy Statement: Born in San Antonio, TX but now live in VT. “You can take the Texan out of Texas, but you can’t take the Texas out of the Texan.” The Invisibles Are Back It’s June. The invisibles are...
Rick Hoffman: Be Good for Goodness’ Sake (short fiction)
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I am a transplanted person. I live in the Northeast, but I was raised in Mississippi and Louisiana, and I visit the South Carolina Lowcountry twice a year. I cannot quit the South of my childhood. It...
Carrie Martin: Tuesday Afternoon (short fiction)
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born and raised in TN, but have made the Southern circuit. I currently reside in Greenville, SC. Tuesday Afternoon “We gotta git the house ready for visitors,” she stated, matter of factly. The screen door...
Michael Black: Chaiwalla (essay)
My Southern Legitimacy Statement is as follows: I’m a proud Arkansan even with it hurts to be, and I’ve found hill people and southern charm around the world. Biscuits aren’t always fluffy, but you know when you’ve eaten one. To add...
Cormac McShane: Ruin (short fiction)
Southern Legitimacy Statement: My Southern-ness is complex, and split between pride and shame. My mother is from Virginia, and a descendant of the Prestons who came over in the early eighteenth-century. Smithfield Plantation near Blacksburg is an ancestral home of...