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Welcome to the August, 2003 edition of Kudzu Monthly, a noncommercial literary ezine that celebrates southern culture - wherever it's found. Kudzu Monthly features the best of short stories, poetry, fine art, and informative articles on health, history, and true crime. This is a magazine for folks who like to read, and we're very pleased that more than 9,800 of you chose to visit in July! Our writers, both aspiring and accomplished, contribute their work for you, so, please, if you like what you read, leave a supportive comment for the author. |
Tend the Soil Mr. Stiles has passed on, but Gertie still remembers his enthusiasm about their small garden. "You gotta work it," he'd say, "and God will show you a miracle." In search of a personal miracle, Gertie takes hoe and shovel in hand and finds that, among the weeds and vegetables, she can sense some remainder of his love for her.
Scalpel Jenna Douglas is an accomplished woman. She's smart, good-looking, and head of a multinational company chiefly responsible for the end of world hunger. She's also enduring a nuisance suit, and her attorney is opposed to having her take the stand.
A Best of Kudzu Monthy Selection Dancing the Winter Away This original short story by David Kirkland is about a man who likes to sit at his apartment window and scan the crowd with the telescopic sight of his rifle. It's also about the woman in the apartment building across the street who will do almost anything to make him stop.
Finding Her Song Hazel Bell Nicholas is an award-winning poet and the author of seven poetry books... so far! She's also eighty-seven, volunteers in a nursing home, and is a member of the South Oklahoma Writer's Group. This is the second appearance of her work in Kudzu Monthly, and it's illustrated with photos from her cruises to Alaska and British Columbia. Beat the heat in August, and enjoy some good, traditional poetry.
Poetry by Leysa Robertson Sometimes good things come in small packages, and that's a good way to describe Leysa Robertson's poetry. She tells stories with her poems, compact stories that convey a lot of meaning in a small space. This is her second appearance in Kudzu Monthly, and we're glad to have her back. Enjoy.
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My Fat, Your Fat, and Trans Fat In the early 1900s, food researchers learned how to attach an extra hydrogen atom to the atoms in vegetable oils to improve their stability. This type of saturated fat is known as trans fat, and it has become the recent target of media and government scrutiny. When Lisa Binkley researched this topic, she found that one group was responsible for much of the debate and additional solid research was lacking. Her conclusion is that trans fats may or may not be the "Darth Vader" of our diets, but it's interesting what else she discovered on the way to that finding.
Big Sandy Creek Better the devil you know than the devil you don't know? How about better the Texan you know than the Texan you don't know? August brings us two true stories by Texans, and we'll start with Loren Moore's tale about himself, Tiny, Sweetpea, and Sonny on their way to swim in Big Sandy Creek. Their route takes them right past a big watermelon patch, and boys will be boys... Read about what happens when the farmer tries to fight back.
Four Months to Christmas Barbara Pybas is our other Texan. She met her husband Jay at Oklahoma A & M University, and they soon went to establish a farm in rural Cooke County, Texas. The crops were coming in, and the stakes were in the ground for their new house. This is the story of a terrible accident that happened in August, 1949, and it is the story of a young couple's love and determination. Expect to be moved by this.
You, Too, Can Write Humor Don Kelly is a free-lance author and essayist from Pennsylvania. This short, true-life story details his quest to inject some humor into his prose. He was delighted to learn that Sally Breslin, whose column appears weekly in his local newspaper, would be teaching an adult education class in his area. "Deadly serious since I was a kid," Don wonders if he has it within himself to be funny, even as he signs up for Breslin's "Make Me Laugh" class.
Charles Kessler In the years immediately before the War of Northern Aggression, James Buchanan of Pennsylvania was the most important man in America. By being elected President, he had inherited a platter of intractable dilemmas that faced both the north and south. Historian Charles Kessler is the author of "President Buchanan: Trapped in a Whirlwind" and has provided this article for us that deals with the personality of the man whose lot it was to preside over troubled times. |
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The Kudzu Klub is a free, secure, gated writer's work shop on the web where aspiring authors and poets can gather to post their original work and receive comments, critique, and constructive criticism from other like-minded writers, all in a friendly, non-competitive atmosphere. Are you interested in improving your writing? If so, check out the Kudzu Klub today! |
