The Fox at Dawn

and me in the first place, here,

to bury this in my heart, and now yours.

-Chain of Custody, Melissa Helton from Troublesome Rising

None of us can thank Melissa enough for the way she is adding to the legacy of the Hindman Settlement School. Since 1902 it has been a place of inspiration, respect and preservation where people have come to learn and teach and share. Melissa has helped widen their circle even more as Literary Arts Director. She  started the Ironwood Studio, a writers workshop for high school students that has quickly become the life blood of many young writers. She’s expanded the weekend retreats that are my personal oases throughout the year- not sure I could get through the year without them at this point. She puts together a kick ass Appalachian Writers Workshop that exceeds expectations every year.  She founded, edits and fights for the absolutely gorgeous Untelling: The Literary and Arts Magazine of Hindman Settlement School (and there really is no literary print magazine out there like it). Right this very minute she is at Winter Burrow-  a very cool weekend gathering of artists, scholars, writers, musicians and community organizers that I hope to be able to attend one year, another one of her brainchildren. 

 She’s a remarkable poet, artist, teacher and editor.  Her anthology Troublesome Rising  is a powerful collection of writing and art about the 1,000 year flood of Eastern Kentucky in 2022. The Appalachian Writer’s Workshop was in midweek when it hit, water rising 20 feet in just a couple of hours in the middle of the night, scouring the narrow valleys of the region. All of us who were there were changed by that flood. We, all of us, are floodkin now. 

I’m happy for the chance to express how grateful I am to Melissa for all her reclamation work- on the school archives and buildings, and for our community and our memories.

Rescue, reclamation, rebirth.  XO.

Here is where you can find out about that remarkable anthology: https://hindman.org/fireside/titles/troublesome-rising/

Here’s a terrific interview:

https://www.shenandoahliterary.org/thepeak/small-town-dispatches-melissa-helton/

I love this poem- The Teenager has Gone Witchy: https://cutleafjournal.com/authors/melissa-helton

Diamine ink Molten Basalt- the blackest black .

My Advent Tree this year is dedicated to my writer friends and teachers. I am so grateful for all the light you shine in the darkness. 

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