Life, actually…
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CALL ME ALABAMA!
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A DOWN-SOUTH ANTHEM
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Alabama is a state of mind.
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No, I take that back.
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Alabama is your state of mind.
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Alabama is my state of mind.
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Look at the map.
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There is no logical border.
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If logic prevailed, Alabama would be panhandled-with-care to the Gulf and barely miss the Mississippi River to the west and stick-toed in the Atlantic to the east.
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The Alabama state of my mind is…
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Alabama is a truncated
Arbitrarily-bordered
Mixture of Appalachian
Foothills and Gulf beaches
And Tennessean
Valleys and Southern
Pines and black dirt
Flatlands and red
Clay banks and
Human-formed mounds
And dinosaur-chalked
Banks and ‘gator
Swamps and
Cricks and meandering-barged rivers
And angel-haired falls and bluebird
Nests and mosquito bites
And chigger itches and ancient
Warrior-ghosts and
Dirt-poor moonshiners
And proud farmers and
Vegetable-stand pickups
And blue highways
And washboard roads
And scorching sun and
Humid rashes and
Fields endless fields
And full-moon-activated
Cemeteries and
Tombstone graveyards and
Midwife shacks and
Breezeways and clapboards
And wild blackberries and lazy
Cows cud-ding and calves
Cuddling and hay bales and
Barn lofts and suckling puppies
And strutting blue roosters
And water moccasins
And synchronized
Twilight fireflies and glistening
Stars so close you can
Touch them.
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Alabama in my state of mind is
Far-off 3:00 A.M. train
Whistles and howling dogs
And skittish deer and roadside
Tire carcasses and skulking
Buzzards and dearly departed
Armadillos and skunk-fragranced
Air blended with sweet honeysuckle and smothered
With kudzu and life-saving
Breezes interspersed with
Gasping-for-air heat.
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Alabama in my state of mind is
At her best
When you close your eyes
And remember how
Good she was when you
Were young, how wise
She became as you yourself
Wised up and how good she
Can be whenever she
Re-claims her fairness
Of spirit, whenever she
Gets back to
The earth, gets back
Down to earth,
Remembers her hard-working
Closely-tied families.
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In my state-of-Alabama-mind,
Alabama is at her best
When she’s all potential and
Hope and strut…at her
Best when she remembers
Her humble beginnings…
At her best when she
Gives up the chanting
And pays attention to
The babies and the infirm and the
Poor…at her best when
She recalls how wonderful
It is to be paid tender attention to,
To be well-paid with tender attention
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Y’all come visit. Stay as long as you like.
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See how easily we embrace you
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How lavishly we feed you
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How generously we share stories with one another
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See what we are really like
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© Jim Reed 2023 A.D.
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Listen to Jim’s podcast: https://youtu.be/021bu0seOSY