I have always
been Southern,
though I was born
across the river
from St Louis
where my father
moved us
in tough times
so that he could
feed his family
of five.
I have been Southern,
always,
especially in the
big shouldered city
where I mopped down tar,
roofing along side my uncle,
Together
we were Southern
and drank
Jack Daniels whiskey
and whooped
and had fights
and carried pistols,
wrapped in our kerchiefs,
behind the truck seat.
I was a Child of the South
in California,with great bearded bikers,
tattooed men astride
chrome and steel machines
and the tear dropped women
who came with them.
I was Southern of drawl and manner
in Indiana, and Iowa, and Idaho.
I would be much the same inMunich, or Moscow, or on Mars.
I have always been Southern;
I could be nothing else.
What does it mean to you, then, to be Southern?
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