We Are All From Where We Are
Louisville poet Emma Aprile, winner of our inaugural Salvation South New Poets Prize, discusses her creative process, the landscapes that shape her work, and what it means to write from and for the South.
Stories
Blame It on the Yellow Jackets
And no, we don’t mean the Georgia Tech football team.
By Chuck Reece /
To Acknowledge What Someone Else Says
In the eyes of this North Carolina poet, everything—even that which is not “eco”—is part of an ecosystem.
By Catherine Carter /
Don’t Meet Your Heroes?
They’ll always disappoint you, the saying goes. This is a story about how the rule doesn’t apply…if you have the right kind of hero.
By John T. O'Neal /
The Faithful Servant
For fifty years, Linda Strom has ministered to women in prison, helping them reenter society and rebuild their lives. She gives the credit to God and Karla Faye Tucker, who was put to death in 1998 for killing two people with a pickaxe.
By Diana Keough /
At One Summer’s End (for Billy)
Sometimes, when we’re gutted by loss, we go ahead and sing about it. This Mississippi poet does just that.
By James Dickson /
Crow
In this poem from Asheville, North Carolina, a chain of images reveals how our minds sometimes play tricks on us—and, at other times, show us exactly what we need to see.
By Joyce Thornburg /
Sweet Woman of God
In 1998, Atlanta author Mark Beaver’s father asked him to write to the governor of Texas and call on him to stay the execution Karla Faye Tucker—a question that left him to ponder the tug of war between mercy and justice.
By Mark Beaver /
Irish Exits
A lost dog brings Janie Doyle face-to-face with her peculiar neighbors, who live only three blocks away—but in a world that’s entirely different from Janie’s.
By George Singleton /
Refrigerator
In summer’s swelter, consider the blessing of ice and the consequences of technology.
By Joyce Compton Brown /
Teacher, Mother, Poet, Star
Join Salvation South in an intimate conversation with the prize-winning Alabama poet Jacqueline Allen Trimble.
By Chuck Reece /
Where We Went Wrong
The poems of South Carolina’s Ray McManus explore how boys become men—in ways healthy and unhealthy—perhaps better than any poet in the South.