“Slime Mold”
Ray Zimmerman is a freelance journalist and creative writer living in Chattanooga. He spends time outdoors whenever he can and loves reading and writing about nature.
Poetry
“A House in the Country”
FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: Richard Tillinghast’s latest poetry collection, Blue If Only I Could Tell You, won the 27th annual White Pine Press Poetry Prize.
“Snow Day”
FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: John Bensko won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award for his first book, Green Soldiers. His other books include The Waterman’s Children and The Iron City. The poem “Snow Day” appears in his 2014 collection, Visitations.
‘When You’re Dead We’ll Cherish You Again’
In her mesmerizing debut, Helen of Troy, 1993, poet Maria Zoccola merges the mythological and the modern, casting Helen of Troy as a restless housewife and mother in Sparta, Tennessee. Zoccola will discuss the book at Novel in Memphis on January 14.
“Star Epiphany”
Larry D. Thacker’s poetry, fiction, and nonfiction have appeared in Poetry South, Appalachian Journal, Still: The Journal, and Pikeville Review, among other publications. His 2021 story collection, Working It Off in Labor County, was published by West Virginia University Press. He lives in Johnson City, Tennessee.
"In Praise of Winter Trees"
FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: Bill Brown, a native of Dyersburg, Tennessee, was the author of many poetry collections, including Late Winter, The News Inside, and The Cairns. Brown also spent much of his life nurturing the work of other writers, chiefly during his years as a teacher at Nashville’s Hume-Fogg High School. He died on December 17, 2023.
