SSouthernV Voices 2007 Southern Volume XIX Voices Spring 2007 Staff Judges Editor Art Editor Art and Photography Judge Michael Counihan Stella Nickerson Mr. Shawn Dickey Assistant Professor (Studio Art) Assistant Editor Assistant Art Editor Department of Art and Design Aspen Nero Harrison To Mississippi University for Women Design/Layout Assistant Photographers Essay Judge Lauren Klaskala Joanna Oliver Dr. Dwight L. Eddins Katie Sloan Professor, Department of English University of Alabama Staff Members And author of The Gnostic Pynchon (Indiana University Press, 1990) Ian Barclay Claire Oyler Yeats: The Nineteenth Century Matrix Ashley Conoway Tessa Palfreyman (University of Alabama Press, 1971) Ryan Deschamp Victoria Purvis And editor of Jera Dykes Jackson Segars The Emperor Redressed: Critiquing Critical Theory Will Ferraez Elizabeth Smith (University of Alabama Press, 1995) Boshen Liu Jacob Sprouse Sarah Marshall Jena Stafford Poetry Judge Ann Hamilton Marcie Walker Dr. Ian Campbell McGuire Lee Watson Professor of English Literature Elizabeth Meadows Kyle White Edinburgh University Lynn Wilson And author of Lewis Grassic Gibbon (Scottish Academic Press, 1985) Cover Design Art Contest Thomas Carlyle (Longman Group, 1978) Stella Nickerson Faculty Coordinator And editor of Angie Jones Reminiscences/Thomas Carlyle (Oxford University Press, 1997) Nineteenth-century Scottish Fiction: Critical Essays Faculty Advisor (Carcanet New Press, 1979) Emma Richardson Short Story Judge JoAnne Prichard Morris Fallen Editor at Large, Crown Publishing Company Innocence and Executive Editor (1983-1998) of Kelly Lence University Press of Mississippi Cover Art And author (with Unita Blackwell) of Photograph Barefootin’: Life Lessons from the Road to Freedom (Random House, 2006) Table of Contents Poems Essays Ian Barclay Marshall Bartlett How to Make Your Eyes Blue ............ 41 Blues Got Me ............................. .20 Michael Counihan Kiara Boone Nothing Happens in Riding Shotgun .......................... .44 My Neighborhood ........................ 13 Michael Counihan Lauren Klaskala Home ..................................... .36 Alligators .................................. 7 Lauren Klaskala How to Enjoy the Blues .................. 13 The Organic Vegetable Garden ........ 32 Boshen Liu The Old Road Home .................... .40 Dump Truck ............................. .45 Sarah Marshall Sarah Marshall The Manhattan Equinox ............... .30 A FEMA Window ........................... 7 Aspen Nero The Queen of Taco Bell ................. 33 Perogies in Mississippi ................... 18 Ann Hamilton McGuire Sarah Prather Adventure at Midnight ................. 22 All the Pretty Little Horses: Stella Nickerson A Story of HC ............................. 10 She Had a Way ........................... 23 Jackson Segars Wading Pool .............................. 31 Iuka Kook ................................. 8 Sarah Prather Not Romanticizing ....................... 17 Victoria Purvis Short Red ....................................... 27 Stories Jackson Segars The Hitchhiker ........................... 12 Ashley Conoway May (Maia) ............................... 23 Saving Souls .............................. 14 Silence .................................... .26 Michael Counihan Jena Stafford Tempus Fugit .............................. 3 Words with Feelings .................... .24 Lauren Klaskala Harrison To Company Policy ......................... .28 Broccoli Bear ............................ 37 Sarah Marshall Marcie Walker Backwards Joe .......................... .46 Love is Brown ............................ 19 Aspen Nero Lynn Wilson The Driftwood Café ..................... .34 Ten, Fifteen, Switch, Thirty .............. 17 Stella Nickerson Bibu ...................................... .38 Kyle White At First Glance ........................... .42 Artwork Katie Caves The Pier ................................... 19 Life’s Trail ................................. 21 Hannah Cunningham One Particular Harbor ................... 31 Hannah Kaase Gracie in the Grass Gracie in the Grass ........................ 2 Hannah Kaase Scratchboard Falan McKnight First Place Drawing, Art Competition Calm Before Storm ...................... 12 Photography Aspen Nero Tuesday on Toulouse ................... 22 John Bradley Little Red .............. (Inside Back Cover) Stella Nickerson Ducks in a Row ............................ 7 Leslie Datsis Magnolias, Softly ......................... 21 Park Bench ................................ 17 Beautiful Dreamer ...................... .24 Little Feet . 41 Cody Jordan Drained .................................. .26 Joanna Oliver Pansy Mosaic ............................ 22 Kelly Lence Fallen Innocence ................... (Cover) Tessa Palfreyman Path to Perspective ...................... 19 Lily Operetta ............................. 37 Hidden Retreat .......................... .28 Swan’s Sanctuary ........................ 31 Marianna Prather Bottled Memories ......................... 7 Joanna Oliver A Resident of Trees ...................... .24 Collection for a Cure ..................... 13 My Japanese Garden .................... 25 Nature’s Voice in Spring ................ 23 The Next Move .......................... 25 Harrison To Water Droplets .......................... .26 His Ole Truck ............................ .45 Serenity .................................. 35 Brooke Owens Marcie Walker Learned Community .................... 41 Can You See Me Now? .................... 15 Tessa Palfreyman Night Life ................................ 27 Misty White Little Drops of Rain ..................... 33 Fugit Tempus Michael Counihan First Place, Short Story Competition The Chris Read Award for Fiction “I’m here to kill you.” Letha stopped fidgeting Madame?” with the potatoes and turned to face Harvey with a “Actually, it is. Louise and Tess are coming over pan in her hand and a towel over her shoulder. She for dinner, and now you’re getting in my way in my was a woman old only by age, and a quality of keep- own kitchen. But, I understand you probably have ing-on hung on her petite frame. The speaker she places to go and money to make. Would midnight faced was clad in polished black shoes, pressed and be alright with you?” pleated black Calvin Clines with a sheep’s leather belt, solid black mock turtleneck, and a white gold This wasn’t the first time one of his marks had Rolex. She didn’t seem surprised at the silenced tried to negotiate with him. But normally they said Glock smirking at her. phrases like, “No, No,” “Please, I’ll pay you…” and even “But I’m a priest!” Never, ever had he “If you must. But first, hold this.” She handed him a been asked to simply postpone it seven hours. Spode gravy boat. “And this,” a matching butter dish. “And “Well, I suppose, if you must…” these,” a wicker basket with “The walls Letha cut in, “Good. Now set sourdough rolls. “Turn around were painted a yourself a place.” She pointed and put them on the right of the to the cupboard where dishes dinner table.” Harvey simply dark, robust were kept and handed him two stood with his elbows out, forks, a knife, and a spoon. trying to balance the basket on green that looked Harvey obeyed. the two vessels while holding his gun by its trigger guard on like the smell He moved into the dining room his right pinky. “Move along, and looked around for the first now, young man.” Letha of an oak forest time (when he was in there before, all he saw were red grabbed his elbow and turned at .” him, then flicked him on the sunset spots everywhere). The walls rear with her towel. were painted a dark, robust green that looked like the smell Harvey came back in with the gun grasped firmly. of an oak forest at sunset. A gold-rimmed Baroque “I told you, ‘I’m here to kill you.’” mirror perched behind the head of the table, and “And I responded, ‘If you must. But first hold this.’ there was a gold chandelier. If he wasn’t a profes- sional, he might consider redistributing some of Wasn’t that fun? Can you remember what I said this to his collection. Of course, his client wouldn’t next?” be happy, because the house and its contents were This last comment threw Harvey completely off. most likely the reason for the contract in the first He was here to execute the contract, and now she place. Harvey didn’t ask any questions — the less was chiding him like an insolent schoolboy. Harvey he knew the better — but the story probably went decided to respond in kind. With a wide flourish something like this: “I have two kids who are about of arms and a bow, he asked, “Is this a bad time, to go to an Ivy League and a great-grandmother 3 who has (insert exorbitant amount of money). perches to the east of the water glass, which is north- I know…” At least, that’s what Mr. Bumble told east of the knife. Then, the champagne flute is east Harvey back in ’95 when the gentleman was seek- of the wine glass. Well?” He hadn’t been follow- ing a specialist. Harvey had told his clients not to ing her commands. “If I’m going to waste my time disclose their motives, and when Mr. Bumble did, trying to make you a more marketable person, you it showed a propensity towards talking that could better at least participate. Now, those glasses, sir.” not be tolerated. Mr. Bumble was hit by a laundry He set them out, this time. “Start eating with the truck one day. outermost fork and work in. Use the spoon to roll pasta, always put your napkin in your lap before A cacophonous cry caught Harvey from his