By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net I visit cemeteries never knowing what I’ll find. February 10, a cemetery gave me a story that has the elements of a great movie—risk, bravery, tragedy, the largest fire in the country, and a drunken sailor with wobbly feet. The story actually began whenContinue Reading

The split-rail fence, in harmony with the earth. By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net A fence has become more than a way to mark property — delineate — as a five-dollar word goes. “I put that fence up to delineate precisely where my line runs.” Redundant. To delineate is toContinue Reading

By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net Man Will Always Wage War I remember the Vietnam anti-war protests at the University of Georgia. Some group firebombed the Army ROTC building and I recall four protestors walking abreast holding a “Stop War Now” banner. “Stop war now” chanted the throng behind them.Continue Reading

By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net Mom never darkened the door of a juke joint, but that didn’t stop her from rendering a harsh judgment. “The only people who go to juke joints are drunks and floozies.” I have a hunch where her belief came from. Early in her marriage,Continue Reading

By Tom PolandTomPoland.net No more glory years, a beauty nonetheless. A junkyard hiding in woods surprised me. Old cars and pick-ups sat at odd angles, a senior citizen social of sorts. The years had extracted their toll. A sedan’s hood was up as if she had died in the midstContinue Reading