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A rare sight today, the burn barrel By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net We had one. It stood on bricks near a tangled thicket of fragrant honeysuckle. I remember its strangely pleasant smell of burning paper, melting plastic, and blazing trash. I still hear the pop of exploding aerosols. TheContinue Reading

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By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net When it’s spring and the rocky shoals spider lilies bloom, spring’s my favorite season. When mornings of chilled air and radiant leaves arrive, fall’s my favorite season. When I think of autumn memories, first on my list are my days standing by the AugustaContinue Reading

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Photo: Pinckney holding book cover courtesy of Sporting Classics Daily. By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net In Burning The Days, James Salter wrote of his fellow fighter pilots after Korea vanished from his gunsights. “Once in a while in a locker room or bar I would hear a remark thatContinue Reading

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By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net   Thirteen years ago I wrote of highways with memorable names. I mentioned Whiskey Road and Easy Street in Aiken as one of the country’s more photographed road signs. In Albany, Georgia, Lonesome and Hardup Roads make an interesting intersection, and in McCormick CountyContinue Reading

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Crossing over Clear Creek. Photo by Katie Shugg By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net 8-22-2026 — a day for numbers, a day to visit the Old West. From Denver’s mile-high air we took I-70 45 miles west to an elevation of 8,772 feet to board an 1884 steam train. WeContinue Reading

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Artwork of Buffalo Bill from the Colorado Encyclopedia By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net I’ve drifted far from home . . . Dearly Departed they call this Denver bar. With good reason. Joseph Bona pumped embalming fluid into Buffalo Bill here. Plus, they sold caskets in this bar once uponContinue Reading

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Bottled in Meridian, Mississippi — A long-distance winner. By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net I didn’t call them pop. I didn’t call them sodas. I called them Cokes. Cokes could be Pepsis, Fantas (remember those?), Orange Crush, or RC Colas. Tossed out windows, Coke bottles waited along dirt roads, gravelContinue Reading

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By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net Each August I think of my father’s service in Japan, specifically Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Recently I came across one of his base passes that had been hiding from me all these years. Dad was stationed in Yokohama. The date on his pass is AugustContinue Reading

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By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net When I see photographs of Colorado’s Great Sand Dunes National Park I want to explore a desert right then. Until I do, the fragile deserts along the Atlantic Ocean will do just fine. Wind, it shapes the earth, yet we never see it, justContinue Reading

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Photo: Cool, comfy, and a tad literary. That’s seersucker.  By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net Seersucker. A cool word, and cool is the word. Before AC came along, a Southern gentleman worth his salt wouldn’t be caught without a seersucker suit. Just one gentleman back home wore seersucker. With hisContinue Reading