Untelling

ISSUE 4 | WINTER 2025

Featuring 23 poets, 9 prose writers, and 13 artists

This issue celebrates the places and people throughout Central Appalachia, including Hell For Certain in Leslie County, KY, the Massey Miners, the Argo Books shop in Buckhannon, WV, the Alabama Whitetail Records Museum, and more. The artists and writers in this issue range from publishing for the first time to those with dozens of books, including former KY Poet Laureate George Ella Lyon and Jason Brashear, director of Hindman Settlement School’s sister affiliation Pine Mountain Settlement School.
 
Enjoy several preview pieces by clicking any linked text!
CONTAINED WITHIN

Untelling   4
From the Editor   8
From the Archive   101
From the Still Library   103
Artist Bios   106

POETRY

The Groundhog Knows One Big Thing  10 
 Annie Woodford

Supper   13
  Flossie Hedges

art was killed by the company man  18 
  Nik Lee

A Record of the First Year of Our             Son’s Life   20
  Caleb Johnson

Diner Service   28
  Gabriel Welsch 

You Ask if I Want You to Buy Me a Star   30 
  Marjorie Maddox 

Practicing the Alphabet   31 
  Silvia McClamrock

A Partial Glossary of Rain  37 
  Doug Van Gundy

North Fork Flood, 1963   38 
  Flossie Hedges

Mushrooms   39 
  Joshua Gage

Daughter   41 
  Loren Crawford

Dis(illusion)   50 
  Natalie Kimbell 

Jars of Green Beans   52 
  MJ Hatfield

Heartbeat   54
  Joshua Gage

Harsh Lessons in Magical Realism, Appalachia   59 
  Annie Woodford 

Black Walnuts  60 
  Susan O’Dell Underwood 

Theory of Relativity  63 
  Marjorie Maddox

Sycamores   63 
  Doug Van Gundy 

The Rain that Fell Just Short of Where I Stood   66 
  Karen Holmes

The Owl Said  69
  Ashley Bunton 

To the Woman Who Died Just Right   70 
  Karen Holmes

All the Ways I Tried to ██ Before Kindergarten   72

  Ashley Bunton  

Boneyard Communion 1929   75 
  Wendy Jett

Honky Tonk   76
  Clinton W. Waters

An Appalachian Meditation from the Desert  79 
  Susan O’Dell Underwood

Charlie Turner’s Coca-Cola Drinking Bear  80 
  Wally Smith 

Given to Drink  82 
  Flossie Hedges

My Father Does Not Hunt   87
  Lora Eli Smith 

The Alabama Whitetail Records Museum   90 
  Caleb Johnson 

Epilepsy Grammar Lesson   96 
  Angie Mimms

A Driveway Mandala Made of Three-Point Turns  98 
  Andrew Butler

Hunger  103
  George Ella Lyon

The Outermost Dream  105
  Denton Loving

PROSE

Untelling  
  Sara Henning

Give Me that Old Time Religion  14 
  Jean Dowdy

Appalachian Men   26 
  Christina Fisanick

Argo Books: A Loss  32 
  Abigail Benjamin

The Song   47 
  Leah Tenney

Unspeakable   56 
  Tina Foster Caldwell

To Bury   61  
  Wes Blake

Skin to Skin  84
  Lisa McCormack

She  93
  Chris McGinley

PHOTOGRAPHY & ART

The Air Again  Cover 
  Sarah Andrew

Draped   5 
  Walker Cody

Home for Certain  7 
  Brianna Holland

Uncle Kenny   9 
  Anna Mullins

Promise Land Confessions   12 
 Hayden Miles

Banjo Manning   19 
  Walker Cody

Blue   25 
 Walker Cody

Instruction TRD   29 
  Rick Childers 

Wood   35 
  Jason Brashear

Leafed Lines  36
  Lacy Snapp

Morning Glory   40
  Rick Childers

Calloused by Condition   45 
  Sullivan Potter

Imeris  46
  Francesca Annoni

The Flower Garden   51 
  Misty Hamilton

Parade Days  55 
  Anna Mullins

Houseplant   57 
  Walker Cody

Love Me Not   58
  Sarah Andrew

The Honeycomb  67
  Misty Hamilton 

Owl   68 
  Jason Brashear

The Rainbow  71 
  Misty Hamilton

Somnambulist   73
  Sarah Andrew

Honoring Massey Miners   74
  Anna Mullins

The Brawl   77 
  Hayden Miles

The Day After Friday  78 
  Lacy Snapp 

Pop Culture   81 
  PK Compton

Packhorse   83 
  Renee Anderson

Wendigoistic Remains   86 
  Sullivan Potter

Split Intentions   89 
  Francesca Annoni

General Store   91
  PK Compton

Home on the Range  92 
  Jason Brashear

Wagersville   99 
  Rick Childers 

The views and opinions expressed in this publications are those of the authors and artists and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Hindman Settlement School or any affiliated individuals or entities.

Cover art by Sarah Andrew

MELISSA HELTON
Editor

WILL ANDERSON
Executive Director

JOSH MULLINS
Development & Operations

JUSTIN BROWN
Art Direction & Design

COREY TERRY
Subscriptions & Distribution