"The fact that I want you to observe what I do for your possible pleasure and to give you knowledge of things that I feel I may know better than you, because my world is different from yours, as different as every man's world is from the world of others, is not enough excuse for a personal lyricism that has not yet mastered its necessary trick of rising above the singular to the plural concern, from personal to general import. But for years and years now, which may have passed like a dream because of this obsession, I have been trying to learn how to perform this trick and make it truthful, and sometimes I feel that I am able to do it." -- Preface, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams

A Country Rag Word Preserve ~ Volume 2

"Candle in the Wind"

Rustic Refrain "Toe Ache" by Bunny Stein "Wild Mountain Cranberries" by Bunny Stein "But I KNOW..." by Robert Moore II "Point of Persistence" by Don Muscher "Born 1896...Still Witty at 101" by G.J. ***"Virginia Boy, Ch. I-Part 5" ***"Virginia Boy, Ch. I-Part 4" ***"Virginia Boy, Ch. I-Part 3" ***"Virginia Boy, Ch. I-Part 2" ***"Virginia Boy, Ch. I-Part 1" by Cletus Cubbage "Dos and Don'ts of Axe Handling" by John Traister "Cornhusk Santas" by Julie Gochenour

***By Faith Alone "Signs of Light" by Jeannette Harris by Eunice Soper "The Two Angels" "The Golden Leaves of Forgiveness" "The Sound of the Bell" "The Devil's Favorite Tool" and "On the Way to Rome" "Detours" "Elastic Money" and "The Dangerous Root" "Lesson of the Furrow" "That Still, Small Voice" "The Old Man's Choice" "Look At Him" "Fix It, Daddy" "The First Christmas Gift"

Country Reckoning "Light Verse" by John Somaka, Jr. "Shivaree" by Sheldon Wimpfen "The Bulldog's Bark ~ Part-4" by James R. Wiley "The Bulldog's Bark ~ Part-3" by James R. Wiley "The Bulldog's Bark ~ Part-2" by James R. Wiley "The Bulldog's Bark ~ Part-1" by James R. Wiley "Impressions of the Battlefield" by James R. Wiley "The Mountain Road" by Bunny Stein "The Hugo Mural" by Bunny Stein "The Gifts That Count" by Annette Petrick

***Rivers Side by Jeannette Harris "The Perfect Penny" "'Stop' MacNeil" "Gorland's Ridge" "Triptych" "The Problem of Eggs" "Staying Conscious" "Whom The Gods Would Destroy..." "Month of Remembrance" "Namaste" "Playing the Hardest Song" "Mud and Red Clay" "Dream Catcher" "A Season For Giving" "Valley Seasons"

Chain Carved High Who's crying in darkness, her head a pillow for the dawn of wooden souls, glowing and grisly in a universe so warm? Here I rest in the light, a bulb so small, so pink with life. In the fur of days false gilt gleams on a round of friends sewing patchwork together for a moon-hanger in the midnight sky. -- Jeannette Harris [ed. Gwen Fortunee] "...it's also true that the one point of contention -- the key part of the bill -- happens to be the poster child of radical environmentalism: The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge...." -- Hard, Cold Facts, Wall Street Journal, 3/29 A recent Associated Press (AP) poll indicates the majority of Americans oppose development in the Arctic Refuge; 53% of those polled oppose development, only 33% favor. The Arctic Refuge Wilderness Act (S.411), sponsored by Senator Joseph Lieberman, has strong bipartisan support in Congress and will preserve a pristine Arctic Refuge for future generations. With support from the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, the new Alaska Coalition of Tennessee has launched a statewide campaign to ensure the ANWR is never industrialized for short-term profit. Contact TN's Jeff Barrie or the SACE for activist details. "...The Kaktovik village of Native Americans (firmly behind drilling) had been taming Mother Nature here long before ANWR was a glint in environmentalist eyes...." Hard, Cold Facts, Wall Street Journal, 3/29

***Distilled Spirits "Watchtower" by Gerald Price "The Rock" by Don Muscher

***Holler Notes by Don Silvius "Battle of Cedar Creek" "The Valley's Palatine Pioneers" "An Alternative to the Railroad" "A Gateway to No Man’s Land" "Family History in the Making" "Wizard Clip" "The Valley Turnpike" "White Dove and the Virginia Caverns" "Shenandoah Roots" "The Crafty Professor" "Origins of the Scotch-Irish"

***Homespun Humor by Debbie Farmer "A Letter To Santa" "Little Monsters" "Mom's First Day of School" "Birthday Parody" "Un-Suitable" "Couple Talk"

***The Line Cellar by John Waybright "Don't Eat the Bran Pie" "Volunteers Addicted Anonymous" "Driven to Distraction" "Computer Tricks" "Bouts of Boredom" "Ham on Wry" "Life is a Beach" "Reading Wrong" "I Dig Spring" "Dining Out" "The Long of the Short Month" "Post-Christmas Portents"

Occasional Treats "On My Horizon" and "Laughter on the Wind" by Alan Ward "My Guard Dog" by Roeena "Verse to Music" by Harold Janzen "Places I Have Been" and "Bridges" by Alan Ward "Memory" by Anna Star "Walk With Me" by Anna Star "Global Chill" by Sheldon P. Wimpfen

***Tales of Jewell Hollow by Gary R. Frink April 1995 Part 2 -- Part 1 March 1995 Part 2 -- Part 1 Prologue: Raging Mountain Waters, Part 2 -- Part 1

***Appalachian Scenes and Trivia Volume 2 ***Stand Up! Volume 2 ***Webbed Woes by Jeannette Harris July-Aug-Sept Jan-Feb-Mar

Word Preserve Archives Volume 1

graphic: Holston River flowing 140 miles southwest through eastern Tennessee to unite with the French Broad and form the Tennessee River. That waterway flows 652 miles through Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama to its confluence with the Ohio. From its source at the convergence of Pennsylvania's Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, the Ohio after 981 miles joins the Mississippi, flowing 2,470 miles from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, all part of our planetary cycle from sky to rain to river to sea to sky. Photo by Charles Dyer.

Where the heck am I?

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Original material © A Country Rag April, 1996, 1997. All rights reserved.