~ Delta Poetry Review ~

Valerie Elizabeth Young

I Love My Dirty South

Where what you see is what you get; the residents, they keep it real.

Dialects, Culture, accents and my personal favorite: them gold Grillz.

Respectful southerners go out their way to help tourists,

NASCAR, SEC college football, many identify with this:

Roll Tide, Go Dawgs, LSU, SEC Football pick a Team.

Come on down south, it’s the American Dream.

The South

has a narrative from Jim Crow Laws to Boycotts of music.

The South is educated, don’t judge a book by its cover, don’t mistake this.

The South has written—and burned—some of the world’s best books,

censorship can never be overlooked.

The South has down home hospitality, nothing friendlier than a warm embrace.

Let us not 4get the ugly part of history, from sundown laws to Tulsa riots,

the past will never be erased.

Born and bred to beans, neckbones, and cornbread

We love our people so much—everybody getting fed

Slower pace living, so much industry,

Legacy continues on from HiSTORY to HERSTORY

Next time some shade come out your mouth

You keep this in the back of your mind

I LOVE MY DIRTY SOUTH

Note: The Dirty South, (n). a term of endearment for the area that includes southern Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, northern Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and eastern Texas.

—The Urban Dictionary

Valerie Elizabeth Young: I’m a loving mother of two, proud military veteran, commander of the local VFW (Veteran of Foreign Wars) post 3480, talented poet, aspiring writer, and an active leader in my community. I’m passionate about my personal growth and development and love to express myself through my poetry. I consider everything in life a learning lesson. Poetry is very soothing, and it allows me to express myself beyond limitations. I feel poetry is therapeutic. It feels good to assist people through my words. With poetry, there are no boundaries or rules, and I can maneuver my thoughts accordingly. My strongest desire is to create a legacy that will equip, encourage, and inspire my children and my children’s children to live their lives in ways that add value to themselves as well as others.