#39 – Spring 2013

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Tribute to Southern Poets

Conversation with
David Bottoms

 

Rattle #39

Releasing March 1, Rattle‘s inaugural quarterly issue is devoted entirely to the work of Southern Poets. As William Wright describes in his essay on the subject, “there is no definable element that makes a Southern poet Southern, other than the geography he or she claims.” What’s more, the cultural fabric of the American South has been changing rapidly in the 21st century, and many of the old assumptions about Southern literature—an emphasis on bucolic landscapes, history, family, and so on—no longer hold. So what is it that makes a poet Southern?

As always, we’ve let the writers speak for themselves, selecting the best 39 poems that we could find from over 10,000 submissions. There are plenty of donkeys and drinking, bibles and baseballs and bass boats—but there are also teenagers tripping on acid, movie stars finding romance, and Mexican workers on strike. The South is too rich a heritage for any stereotype, but by gathering these poems together we can tease out the subtle traits they share. Helping us along the way is an intimate and entertaining conversation between Alan Fox and Georgia State Poet Laureate David Bottoms, and a series of black and white photographs by Southern Poet William Walsh.

 

Audio Available = audio available

Southern Poets

Audio Available Leslie Marie Aguilar Poem for the Educated Black Woman …
Dan Albergotti A Brief History of Poetry
Audio Available Michael Blaine Jayus
David Bottoms Cubs on Allatoona
Slow Nights in the Bass Boat
Audio Available Michael Chitwood Summer Job
Liz N. Clift At the Edge of the Hennessey Farm
Audio Available R.G. Evans The Things That Mother Said
John Gosslee Her Sports Game
Chera Hammons Tornado Alley
Gretchen Hodgin To Bitterness:
Audio Available David Brendan Hopes James Dickey Died Owing Me …
Audio Available Edison Jennings Brown Eyed Girl
Audio Available Joel F. Johnson Oakbrook Estates
Julie Kane Dullahan
Katie Knoll Skinned
Cody Lumpkin Egging a House
Ed Madden Church Camp, Summer 1977
Sandra Marshburn Small Spool
Arthur McMaster Things to Ponder about the Southern …
Devon Miller-Duggan Oliver Leamy (10 Months) …
Anis Mojgani Somewhere in My Body Are Two Flowers …
Audio Available Annie Mountcastle Labor
Audio Available Jeremy Dae Paden After My Copy of Levertov’s Life …
Audio Available Melissa Queen Learn to Sail with Your Dad
J. Phillip Reed Apotropaic of Giving Good Ole Boys Roadhead
Liz Robbins Drive-In Church
Audio Available Larry Rogers Mr. Rescue
Mike Saye Scent and Bones
R.T. Smith Cervine Occurrence
Philip St. Clair Newton Township
Audio Available Lolita Stewart-White If Only
Marcela Sulak Men on Strike
Audio Available Sarah Sweeney Tripping at the NC Agricultural State Fair
Audio Available William Walsh The Movie Star’s Secret
Kenny Williams The Hummingbird
Audio Available Matthew Wimberley Tabula Rasa
William Wright Nightmare, Revised
Beyond Geography (Essay)

Conversation

David Bottoms

Photography

Dagmar Nelson
William Walsh