As a poet I have learned to approach syrupy topics, (tears, grandmothers and any thing that dances), with caution. But I am old enough to be a grandmother, and it just so happens both of mine could dance like hell and drive grown men to tears. One danced from DonegalContinue Reading
The following beautifully written article by Adam Miller first appeared on the site Waking Up in Boone. It was foggy almost that whole Saturday. I left the mountain in the morning driving with flashers and lights at a creeping pace on my way to Hickory. On the way homeContinue Reading
Have you ever wondered what ads an ancestor might have seen while reading the morning paper? Love them or hate them, advertisements are important windows into society. Ads tell us about particular time periods and what kind of dreams manufacturers or companies wanted to sell or perpetuate. Just like inContinue Reading
Tomorrow is the birthday of revered Appalachian poet and novelist Byron Herbert Reece (1917-1958). Join Appalachia Bare in celebrating his life and talent through a heartfelt tribute by acclaimed writer, Mark Wallace Maguire. I go by ways of rust and flame Beneath the bent and lonely sky; Behind meContinue Reading
You have a story to tell. We all do. Ours is an oral history – told by great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles, etc. Consider for a moment how many of our people’s stories will never be known because they were never written or captured in time. Instead, they areContinue Reading
With trepidation; I approached my childhood Appalachian home, a shack really, high above the railroad tracks. The sole remaining object was the toilet, standing forlorn among the broken shards of rotten wood. A toilet, ironically, that we were never allowed to use, when there was a perfectly good leaf availableContinue Reading
On occasion, Appalachia Bare likes to spotlight some of our best submissions. “Copperhead Holler” was written by Bridgette Johnson, the talented Honorable Mention author of our 2020 George Washington Harris Short Story Contest. We are proud to present this submission for your enjoyment. Bridgette Johnson holds a Bachelor’s ofContinue Reading
We trundled down the thin gravelly road, Dad and I, in the rickety old pickup truck, green enough to blend with the forest, especially after one of those morning drizzles in late summer that just makes the trees look . . . alive, more alive than usual. The dew-glazed hemlockContinue Reading
Similar to many small towns, Lake City, Tennessee,1) (The town has changed names several times since its founding circa 1800. For a little Wiki-info, click here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Top,_Tennessee ) residents often brag about interesting animal stories from the town’s annals. The one that stands out to me is the 1931 confrontationContinue Reading
I. VALOURY DELIA Va’delia, a polio, grew up at village edge, wearing heavy steel leg braces with sweat-stained leather bands that pulled stocking runs up her legs, and walked with aluminum elbow crutches from which any shine had long worn away. In our wood-floored school, sweet with banana oil, weContinue Reading