Columns & Commentary

POLLY TRIUMPHANT 
by Dave Shiflett 
Go for it, young. Then simmer down.

BLANKS
by Charles Taylor
Hollywood snatches Betty Lou’s handbag.

JOSEPH MITCHELL
by Rich Cohen
One New Yorker Inspects another.

Fiction

ASPHALT
by Willie Morris 
A leader of the Delta, evoked.

DOGMAN 
by William J. Slattery
Big moment/big deal.

FLIGHT PATTERNS 
by Cynthia Shearer 
A father’s elusive love. 

Features

COMING OFF THE BACK OF BRASSTOWN BALD 
by James Kilgo 
Risk-taking make easy (close your eyes).

THE GREAT FRIED CHICKEN CONUNDRUM
by Ted Roberts
Secrets revealed, mad delights, a million downed chickens.

STYLE WITH MEANING 
by Steve Vineberg 
As pimp or principal, the Memphian earns plaudits.

BASKETBALL SEASON 
by Donna Tartt
Requiem of a Mississippi cheerleader.

BACK TO BOB’S
by Rich Cohen 
Our Yankee nutrition expert plumbs the depth.

PHOTO ESSAY
by Eudora Welty 

Poetry

ZEUS RETIRED 
Michael Chitwood

ONE MEAN KID
X.J. Kennedy

SONG OF MIRANDA LALISLE 
Roy Blount, Jr.

IN MEMORIAM 
X. J. Kennedy

GIRLS LIVE LONGER 
John Nixon, Jr.

Cover Photograph: by Eudora Welty of a wooden suspension bridge in Byram, Mississippi. From the © Eudora Welty Collection—Mississippi Department of Archives and History.