The Closing The hands grasping the loan papers have long Broad fingers, farmer-strong, His father’s gift to him, along With the money that allowed the son To escape the farm. The elder had worked hard, was one Who had what is called luck. Why should the boy craft or husband When he could do . . . something else? So he went Dutifully to school, worked hard, was as … [Read more...] about Poetry: Robert L. Mahon (Issue Ten)

By Victoria Howerton (From issue seven of Elder Mountain) In the 1930s there was no West Plains Civic Center. In its place sat a record store owned by a local couple. There was a modest sound proof room in the back where customers could take the records for a trial run. They had a lot of repeat business, at least browsing business, in part because of that room and in part … [Read more...] about Evenings with Betty Dine

By Henry Hughes (From issue seven of Elder Mountain) I normally don’t think about death in the morning, about crying women and well-dressed men in hexagonal pine caskets loaded into a black wagon. Driving down foggy Highway 19 from West Plains, Missouri, the morning after attending the Ozarks Studies Symposium and Abby Burnett’s presentation on traditional burial … [Read more...] about Life and Loss on the Eleven Point

By Brian Hardman (From issue seven of Elder Mountain) Storytelling is often thought of, first and foremost, as entertain­ment, but in many regions, it is a key to preserving cultural history and memory. In the Ozarks, for example, storytelling goes by many humorous names. If you have spent much time in the region, you have likely heard someone spinning a windy, telling a … [Read more...] about Remembering Yonder Mountain: Storytelling as Cultural Survival