New Poems in Salvation South

Posted byKendall DunkelbergPosted inNews, Poetry, publishingTags:, , , , , , , ,

I’m thrilled to see two new poems appear in Salvation South. If you’re not familiar with this weekly online journal, I highly encourage you to read the most recent issue, and not just because they took my poems. In this issue, John T. Edge interviews Wright Thompson about his new book The Barn, which explores the murder of Emmett Till. There is also nature writing from Lenny Wells and an interview with musician Caleb Caudle conducted by Chuck Reece.

My humble contribution are two poems from my “Intergalactic Traveler” series. The first was inspired by stories I’ve heard from people who’ve visited Buc-ee’s. If you haven’t driven through the South, then you may not know what I’m talking about, but just ask anyone who has, and you will likely hear similar stories. I have been amazed by the reverence and fervor people show for this institution, even friends who I would not expect to wax enthusiastic about a truck stop.

My second poem was written in response to the shooting at Uvalde, though sadly, there have been many other incidents that it could be about.

This series of poems arose out of an exercise I gave myself in 2019 to write from an alien perspective, to write in a different voice, and to take on issues that I might feel less comfortable writing in my own voice. Interestingly, after some years of writing in this series (now totaling more than twenty poems), I’ve also written about some of these issues in first person from my own perspective as well. Writing in this voice also was likely instrumental in some of my poems based in myth.

I thought I was done with my intergalactic traveler, when I saw a call from Salvation South and felt the need for a Southern-inspired poem, which led me to the one about Buc-ee’s. Who knows, maybe I’m not quite done yet…

I’m very grateful to Salvation South for making this mental leap with me and allowing these poems to grace their virtual pages. I hope you’ll enjoy them, and I hope you’ll become an avid reader of Salvation South. The editors there are creating an amazing space for challenging conversations.

Published by Kendall Dunkelberg

I am a poet, translator, and professor of literature and creative writing at Mississippi University for Women, where I direct the Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing, the undergraduate concentration in creative writing, and the Eudora Welty Writers' Symposium. I am Chair of the Department of Languages, Literature, and Philosophy, and I have published four collections of poetry, Tree Fall with Birdsong, Barrier Island Suite, Time Capsules, and Landscapes and Architectures, as well as a collection of translations of the Belgian poet Paul Snoek, Hercules, Richelieu, and Nostradamus, and the textbook A Writer's Craft: Multi-Genre Creative Writing. I was born and raised in Osage, Iowa, and have lived for over thirty years in Columbus, Mississippi, where my wife Kim and I let wildflowers grow in our yard to the delight of spring polinators and only some of our neighbors.

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