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 Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net Roads tell stories. I’ve come across the “Mule Kick That Killed Eight People” in Edgefield County. I’ve seen stores fall to arsonists along Highway 378. I’ve seen homes go dark and swallowed by vines, and I’ve seen wheelchair ramps go up as the yearsContinue Reading
By Tom Poland: A Southern Writer TomPoland.net A reader and friend, Zilphy DuRant of Florence, mailed me a letter and clipping from The Post and Courier about an architectural feature I’d never heard of, rain porches. In the clipping Seth Taylor wrote about the Pee Dee being the “birthplace ofContinue Reading
You campers, be careful what you wrap in aluminum foil. By Tom Poland: A Southern Writer Let this harrowing tale serve as a warning. Be careful of what you wrap in aluminum foil. A British judge stopped a man’s 12-year legal battle to dig up a hard drive storing 8,000Continue Reading
By Tom Poland, A Southern Writer TomPoland.net New Orleans-bound, Georgia Dawgs Andy and I left Columbia, South Carolina, December 31 at 7:30 am Headed to the Sugar Bowl, our rooms waited at a Marriott in NOLA, that lady-like acronym for a city with its share of fame, and some willContinue 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
By Tom Poland TomPoland.net It’s annually voted the most popular Christmas song. Perhaps it’s the most controversial. When Savannah resident James L. Pierpont composed the song he sowed the seeds for a dispute. Pierpont wrote his Christmas classic in the autumn of 1857. You know the song as Jingle Bells,Continue Reading
One man’s fear is another man’s career. By Tom PolandTomPoland.net Come the cold, dormant months, few snakes, if any, are out and about. Perhaps winter makes a good time to read about the critters many fear. You know, the only good snake is a dead snake. The irrational fear ofContinue Reading
By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net You won’t find my mother’s secret to this recipe. It’s in the story. Photo by Debra Poland When I heard Hurricane Helene destroyed some 42,000 pecan trees in Georgia, I thought of my mother and my last pecan pie, not the last ever, butContinue Reading
By Tom Poland, A southern writer. From church to home, an antique pew escaped Helene and found new life. Sunday service is a time when the pulpit, piano, and organ assume major roles. Add Bible and hymnal to the list. Pews, however, get overlooked. Thus, I turn my attention toContinue Reading
By Tom Poland: A Southern Writer TomPoland.net The weather experts predict a warmer winter than usual. That assures me we’ll get snow this winter. Meteorology is the science of studying the atmosphere’s processes and phenomena. Remember the projected path of Helene? Tells you a lot. How would you like toContinue Reading
Tom Poland A Southern Writer Growing up in landlocked Lincoln County, Georgia, I never worried about hurricanes. I left that to folks on the coast. Hurricanes were not to be feared. If anything, downpours from a hurricane’s rain bands brought welcome relief to a long, hot summer. Well I sureContinue Reading
By Tom Poland I look forward to fall’s crisp air, college football, and colorful foliage, but with the good comes the sad. Hummingbirds take leave of us. It’s been a good hummingbird season. I’ve had many visitors to my feeders, far more females than males. All swoop and squeak asContinue Reading