When we finally sprung my father from the hospital after days spent staring at the cardio unit’s cinderblock walls the color of nothing good, his joy could not be contained. Every meal he ate was the best he’d ever had. I worried, at first, that my mother would feel slighted by his ecumenical praise—the biscuits […]
Pauletta Hansel
Pauletta Hansel’s seven poetry collections include Coal Town Photograph and Palindrome, winner of the 2017 Weatherford Award for best Appalachian poetry; her writing has been featured in Oxford American, Rattle, andAppalachian Journal, among others. Pauletta was Cincinnati’s first Poet Laureate (2016–2018) and is managing editor of Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel. Find her writing at https://paulettahansel.wordpress.com/.