I told my physician that I seemed to be in the tertiary stage of the disease. He looked at me for a long time before saying,
“Do you know what that means?”
I gave him a puzzled look, cocked my head, and waited for him to go on.
“In this case, it would mean you are dead.”
“Oh. Well. No. I’m not dead. I’m feeling much better at the core of things, but I’m still sick. What stage is that?”
Continue readingIf people had taglines, what would yours be?
My blog has a tagline of A Hillbilly Diva’s Blatherings which I really like. The blog is just that. My thoughts on sundry things, events, etc. It doesn’t have a strong focus other than Appalachia and my love for this place. And diva? Well, that goes without saying.
But do I want to use that as my tagline? Probably not. It doesn’t encompass all of who I am which gets me to the rub. Am I looking for a tagline for me as a writer? Or as an overall person?
And that gets messy. At least right now, my identity is so wrapped up in writing that it is hard to separate it from me. It took me a long time to find my life’s calling and I’m not going to abandon it now. While my writing may or may not scream Appalachia, I’m not sure I do though the diva is certainly on point.
Continue readingIf my body were a puppy, I would love it. I would love it through the rumble tumble time. I would love it when it chewed up my shoes, and I would love it all snuggled up in blankets while I read a book. I would smile at its bark and savor the kisses.
I would tickle its fat little tummy and laugh.
If my body were a mountain, it would be an Appalachian and not a Rocky. All mounds and curves, nothing jagged.
If my body were an infant, I would feed it when hungry and rock it to sleep.
If my body were a tree, I would marvel at the changes the years would bring.
If my body were a leaf, it would be from an oak. Ordinary for its place and time, but still a miracle to be in awe of.
If my body were a creek, it would start out as a trickle growing and growing until it needed to release the overflow to something larger than itself.
Continue readingMy poem based on this photograph has been published. You can read it here.
W. Va. Fur and Root 