Appalachian Journal

Volume 52 Numbers 1-2 ● FALL 2024 / WINTER 2025  

SIGNS OF THE TIMES, with illustrations by Annie Greenwood... 6

The Prodigal by Brian Beatty poetry... 27

Tribute to Marie Cirillo by Mark Banker... 28

Dogwood Winter by Eugene Stevenson poetry...34
On a Winter Walk by Victor Depta poetry...35
The Leaden Sky by Victor Depta poetry... 36
Cut, Haul, Split, Stack by Eugene Stevenson poetry...37

SCHOLARLY ARTICLE 
The “All Et Up” and the Down to Earth: Lee Smith’s Adaptation of Wuthering Heights by Wendy Kurant Rollins... 38

I Am My Sister's Keeper by Kate Cruz poetry...51
The Short and Long Reds. The Tips and the Lugs. by Marcos McPeek Villatoro poetry... 52
U.S. vs. U.S. by Benito del Pliego poetry...54
So This Is What It Means to Grieve by Kate Cruz poetry...56
MCMXIII by John York poetry... 58

CREATIVE NONFICTION 
Branch and Root: In Search of an Appalachian Family History by Pauletta Hansel...60

The End of Hims by Thomas Rain Crowe poetry...76
My Mother’s Son by Brian Beatty poetry...77

SCHOLARLY ARTICLE 
Middlebrow Bestseller Obscured: Reconsidering Agnes Sligh Turnbull’s Westmoreland Novels by Samuel J. Richards... 78

This Stingray Makes Me Think of God by Ben Graham poetry... 100

SCHOLARLY ARTICLE
Effie Smith Ely: Forgotten Poet: Untangling the Publications of Effie Smith Ely and Effie Waller Smith by Leatha Kendrick... 102

Spring: Knoxville, TN by Jeremy Michael Reed poetry...119

INTERVIEW
Who’s Afraid of the Dark? An Interview with Writer Leigh Ann Henion, interviewed by Sandra L. Ballard... 120

Homeric Greek by Wesley R. Bishop poetry...130
Autumn by Aruna Gurumurthy poetry...131

CREATIVE NONFICTION 
The Bottle and the Box by Richard Hague and Scott Goebel...132

Tearing Off Dead Weight by Susan Shaw Sailer poetry...138
Spring Spurns the Aging Self by Susan Shaw Sailer poetry...139

TRIBUTE TO DR. SANDRA L. BALLARD...140
Editor’s Note...140
Patricia Beaver...141
Esther Brassell...142
Krystal Brooke Carter...143
Jerry Williamson...143
Maggie McKinney...144
Joseph Bathanti...146
Robert Morgan...149
Mary Jo Johnson...149
George Ella Lyon...150
Susan O’Dell Underwood...150
Robert Gipe...152
Patricia Hudson...155
Ron Rash...155
Thomas McGowan...155
Pauletta Hansel...157
Rachel Ellen Simon...157
Megan Hall...158

A February Poem by Victor Depta poetry...159
Spring Grass by Wesley R. Bishop poetry...160

BOOK REVIEWS
Brent Martin on Night Magic: Adventures Among Glowworms, Moon Gardens, and Other Marvels of the Dark by Leigh Ann Henion...161

Theresa L. Burriss on Beginning Again: Stories of Movement and Migration in Appalachia edited by Katrina M. Powell...163

Lisa Graley on Clear Creek: Toward a Natural Philosophy by Erik Reece...165

Caleb Pendygraft on Deviant Hollers: Queering Appalachian Ecologies for a Sustainable Future edited by Zane McNeill and Rebecca Scott...167

Sara Pisak on Feeding the Ghosts: Poems by Rahul Mehta...170

Willie Carver on No Son of Mine by Jonathan Corcoran...172

Tonya Nagle on Choices: Three Novellas by Annabel Thomas...173

Dana Wildsmith on Will There Also be Singing? Poems by Pauletta Hansel...175

Brandon Johnson on Finding the Singing Spruce: Musical Instrument Makers and Appalachia’s Mountain Forests by Jasper Waugh-Quasebarth...177

Taylor Hagood on Highways and Heartaches: How Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart, and Children of the New South Saved the Soul of Country Music by Michael Streissguth...179

Phil Obermiller on The Lies of the Land: Seeing Rural America for What It Is—and Isn't by Steven Conn... 180

Thomas Rain Crowe on The Creek by Victor Depta...183

CHRONICLE ... 186

EDITOR CORRECTION...191

APPALACHIA BY THE NUMBERS ...197

CONTRIBUTOR BIOS ... 198

AppalJ is dedicated to fostering diversity of opinion; the viewpoints expressed in these pages are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent opinions of the editor, the Board, or Appalachian State University.

TO SUBSCRIBE or ORDER Vol. 52, No. 1-2 (Fall 2024/Winter 2025), USE ORDER ONLINE to pay via credit card: $25 (includes shipping in U.S.) or $35 for international orders.

For USPS orders, SEND your check for $25 (in U.S.) to APPALACHIAN JOURNAL, BELK LIBRARY, ASU, BOONE, NC 28608.   Send $35 for international orders.