Mary Ann Potter – Four Poems
Southern Legitimacy Statement:
We moved to North Carolina from Michigan way back in 1983, and I learned right away that I'd better learn the proper accent when I resumed my high school teaching career down here. I remember pronouncing a vocabulary word for a quiz and was met with puzzled gazes from the kids. So I affected the Raleigh accent (and that's only one of many down here!) and was then understood, bless my heart. Further proof of my Southern legitimacy is here on Windy Hollow Farm outside of Oxford; we left North Raleigh for the country back in April and live on 55 acres of rural paradise. The fancy-schmancy Oxford address doesn't tell the true nature of this place; to get here you have to go through Stem and Shoofly. Really. We have all the requisite farm stuff here, but our claim to fame is actually in one corner of the property, out of sight and known to few, several old rusty hulks of cars left there by the old owners. One can still be identified as a '51 Oldsmobile. A couple of them are just wrinkled steel, either supported by or smashed by the trees. We're actually proud of all this wonderful, historic stuff. And we have no plans to move it! (Can't. it takes a major little hike through our woods to even get to it.)
