When a novice midlife musician makes her festival stage debut on a homemade washtub bass, she learns a little about old-time music. And more about embracing imperfection.

More than a century ago, in “The Second Coming,” Irish poet William Butler Yeats wrote, “the centre cannot hold.” But sometimes it does. This poem says so.

Storytelling is a merciful, hopeful act. The words of skilled writers with compassionate hearts can heal wounded people and communities. Our 2025 membership drive is here. Please help keep this home for such writers running for another year.

Ackerman’s verses—rich in the landscapes of the Blue Ridge—bridge our generations, from a rickety shelf stacked with jelly jars to climate-anxious meadows.

Beginning with our May 11 edition, Salvation South will kick off its 2025 membership drive. But starting today, you can join the Family Circle early—and get the swag that goes with it.

A boy’s hunt with his grandfather becomes a test not just of skill, but of conscience. As thunder rumbles above, a twelve-year-old must decide what kind of man he wants to become.

Caught between her church’s expectations and her own anxieties, a nine-year-old’s journey from the community pool to the baptismal font becomes a quiet search for belonging in a world that promises salvation but delivers uncertainty.

This finalist for the New Poets Prize—also poet laureate for Hattiesburg, Mississippi—takes us on intricate tours of Saturday in a small town, the thin line between redemption and judgment, and how beauty and love unfold in everyday moments.

From a New Poets Prize finalist, four whirling lyrics on the body and mind.

Louisville poet Emma Aprile, winner of our inaugural Salvation South New Poets Prize, discusses her creative process, the landscapes that shape her work, and what it means to write from and for the South.

The winner of our first New Poets Prize gives us three big-hearted, sharp-minded poems on holding tight, oranges in winter, and discussing impossibilities with a child.

Kentucky poet Joy Priest shares, in this conversation with Chuck Reece, how writing became both her salvation and her rebellion.