The Fox at Dawn

Advent Tree 2025: December 16th

What are years, vigils,

the sojourner close to the land?

Speak memory. Some sweet day

by words alone, welcome 

the traveler home.

-Marianne Worthington from I wanted to write a poem

Marianne Worthington is a wonder. A light many of us have come to depend on at the Appalachian Writers Workshop.  Poet, teacher and a friend to everyone but someone who won’t let you off the hook either- do it and do it well. The last couple of years she’s taught a pre-workshop at the AWW open to just 20 or so registrants, first come first serve. As soon as you get your acceptance letter from Hindman, you can sign up. It allows you to come a day early for some writing sessions with special focuses in poetry. I’m no poet, but that doesn’t stop me from writing poems anyway. It helps to have a teacher.

This last summer I was particularly relieved and grateful to be at Hindman for AWW and Marianne’s session. I’d spent the spring in the hospital with my 24 year old daughter who had a cryptogenic stroke that affected her entire right side. It was a terrifying time, but we were helped by so much kindness- from my family, Hindman friends and from my church and school colleagues. Sitting in rehab one day, out of the blue I received a DoorDash gift card from Marianne that made me cry. So thoughtful and so much needed at that moment! By the time Hindman came around, my daughter was in her last week of outpatient rehab and was doing well, though still early in her recovery. My sweet family made it possible for me to go take some deep breaths at Hindman that last week of July.  

I hadn’t written anything outside of my journal for months, but it was Marianne’s class that helped create a way in, a door that I could open to begin writing about the stroke. I ended up with a draft of a poem that made me shake inside, so I knew it was truth. It has since become part of a trio of poems called Daughter that will be published in the next issue of Untelling.  Thank you, Marianne, for your wisdom and wit and thoughtfulness. Thank you for showing me so many doors. 

The lines I use in my ornament are from Marianne’s book spine poem in the Summer 2024 issue of Untelling. It’s a feature in every issue in the back pages- different writers are asked to take books from James Still’s office and stack them to make a poem. The photo of the books is by Corey Terry. James Still was a titan of Appalachian literature who lived for many years in Oak Ledge, a house built by Lucy Furman out of the proceeds of The Quare Women, her book about the remarkable women who founded the Hindman Settlement School. Tickles me pink that you can get this book today, even on Amazon- https://www.amazon.com/Quare-Women-Kentucky-Mountains-Industries/dp/1950564037 though I hope you’ll ask your local bookstore to order it for you instead.

Here is a terrific podcast episode where you can hear Marianne read her work. It’s also a great site for anyone interested in Appalachian literature.

https://www.readappalachia.com/blog/ep-45-marianne-worthington

Marianne is a writer, educator and editor. She co-founded Still: The Journal an online journal that energized and celebrated contemporary Appalachian writers. It’s no longer being published but you can still access the archives- it’s a treasure trove and it’s free: https://www.stilljournal.net/

Learn more about Marianne here: https://marianneworthington.com/

Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of The Girl Singer: https://hindman.org/fireside/titles/the-girl-singer/

1 Comment so far
Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.