August 2009
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When Trees Pop, by Helen Losse

Two men stand, fists clenched,
inside a ring formed by other men.
The other men cheer the two men on,
while the man knocks another man down. 

Nearby, at an overpass, several boys
throw sand and shout the word queer
at certain other boys.  Several women
stand shoulder to shoulder, seemingly calm.

But as they [...]

Silas House Reads from his Forthcoming Novel, Eli the Good

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wKAkVXyg2s&hl=en&fs=1&]

I have my copy pre-ordered; you should too.

On Cadillac Mountain, by Nathan Graziano

On the night Darla died, Wayne was sitting at the kitchen table, washing down a couple of her Percocets with a cold Budweiser, when it he slapped him like a strip of leather across his bearded cheek. He knew. That’s how he describes it to his son D.J., just out of Y.D.C., who is sitting [...]

Fla. doc fired over 'doughnuts equal death' sign

Would anyone have complained if it was Krispy Kreme?

PENSACOLA, Fla. — Dr. Jason Newsom railed against burgers, french fries, fried chicken and sweet tea in his campaign to promote better eating in a part of the country known as the Redneck Riviera. He might still be leading the charge if he [...]

The Pissed-off Poor Appalachian White. . .

Here’s something to think about: how many pissed-off middle and lower-class people, not just Appalachian natives, are out there? Quite a few, I’d guess. And we don’t have to wonder about how they feel, because articles like this one by Kai Wright make the whole shooting match pretty clear. Thanks to Connie May Fowler who [...]

My Friend is Dying, fiction by Matt Baker

It didn’t take long for word to get around that our buddy Pooter was dying of lung cancer. Some of the guys got to talking one day and decided we should drive the four hours to go and visit him. Earl knew where Pooter lived so we agreed to meet at his house [...]

The Corporeal Chromium Anti-Dowsers Of Elliott Bay, by Dennis Mahagin

After eight straight sunny days, with bare clavicles
pink-tinted as candy canes, Pike Street people keep
thinking positive in wrap-around Vuarnet
sunglasses, especially

the Wallingford gals with teardrop frames
and pinafores, down at the Public Fish Market.
Rhinestone barnacles cling to their lens rims,
they call the hop sing sushi boys by Blues Bro names, [...]

Southern Appalachian English from the University of South Carolina

I don’t want to take away from Gabriel’s great story, but I had to post this, which is a nifty resource for hearing Appalachian speech (if you don’t already live there or don’t hear it regularly).

Welcome to this website on the speech of one of America’s most often misunderstood regions – southern and central Appalachia, [...]

Dig Well, by Gabriel Orgrease

For all the wells which his father’s servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth. Genesis 26:15

Damn, I hate August. . . hot, humid, stinking dead days entombed in boredom. Dead summer, an armpit-perspiring stink. Worm fodder doldrums. August here is a burning [...]