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Stories

Smooth river stones in clear, flowing water with sunlight reflecting off the surface, evoking Mississippi’s natural beauty. In the upper right, the Salvation South New Poets Prize Honorable Mention badge highlights Jennifer Peterson’s award-winning Mississippi poems and her recognition as a Southern poet.

Every Place Is Home to Someone

This finalist for the New Poets Prize—also poet laureate for Hattiesburg, Mississippi—takes us on intricate tours of Saturday in a small town, the thin line between redemption and judgment, and how beauty and love unfold in everyday moments.

Eat, Ponder, Breathe

This week brings you the perfect expression of how Southern food isn’t stuck in the past—and two sweet side dishes of food for thought.

Alon Shaya’s Blue Crab and Roasted Corn Hummus

A little extra time and money will yield the best hummus you’ve ever had.

What We Think About When We Think About Mama

Southerners everywhere celebrate Mother’s Day today. Here are some things to think about while you do.

4518 Miles

A poem for my daughter

The Diva Next Door

Arkansas-born Shara Nova is an alt-pop icon, acclaimed operatic singer, and prolific composer. She defies category. In a biz that wants women to fit in boxes, that’s a problem.

You Must Not Be From Around Here

Home is one thing. Where you’re from is another. And can you talk about the difference politely while you’re standing in the checkout line?

If These Roads Could Talk

How many memories — of our collisions, our missions, our disappearances — lie embedded in the black tar of Southern two-lanes?

Discomfort in Our Southern Skin

You know her as My Brightest Diamond. She’s one of the most multitalented women in 21st century music. And now, she’s reckoning with her Southern roots and a music industry that wants to box her in.

Escape Into Mayhem

Two Georgia promoters combine punk rock and pro wrestling to create a close-quarters blend of two slam-bang art forms. And yes, art is the right word.

Ten-Year-Old Boy Ponders Heaven and Hell

When we were kids, understanding the afterlife was confusing and frightening. A Southern writer gets inside the head of a boy who’s scared plumb to death.

Some Things, You Will Never Know

What we want to believe about our ancestors and what we believed as children pose questions that may never have answers.

Silent but Certain Agreement

A North Carolina poet fills her verses with memories and observations that flow from the present day back into the years passed and gone.