vernontalks - "going to the edge and back, one word at a time."

Southern Shadows Gothic


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In this podcast, I talk about the time I was asked to clean out a religious lady's house after her passing. From that experience, I was able to construct a writing that resonates a dark, more sinister side to Southern living. 

People say "home is where the heart is", yet what happens when home does not feel like home anymore? In a land labeled as 'God's Country', what happens when you see and encounter more demons than angels? What happens when riding bicycles on a dirt road is long forgotten and is exchanged for lethargic revelations?

After boxing away this spiritually devout Catholics life in numerous cardboard boxes and wrapping her life treasures in bubble wrap, what did I really gain from this experience? Was I asked to do this sacred job and carry it through with grace and fragility because no one else would have? Out of all the places this woman could have lived and call home, why did she choose a corn laced, soybean surrounding, hog farm smelling Southern backdrop?

I'm constantly looking for a way out, yet she was looking and found a way in.

Why?

This truly cannot be the land of milk and honey.

This is the land of Southern Shadows Gothic.   

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vernontalks - "going to the edge and back, one word at a time."By Vernon Herring