Working Title: The Unnatural Disaster of Hurricane Helene Flood: Appalachian Poets Holler from Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia
Over time, the Appalachian Mountains, not only the oldest mountains on Earth but also a rainforest, have become accustomed to sporadic minor earthquakes, thunderstorms, high winds, blizzards, forest fires, and even floods. However, more recently, natural disasters in the region seem unnatural when tropical storms render unprecedented tornadoes and destructive floods. Hurricane Helene brought record-breaking rainfall, high winds, mudslides, and catastrophic flooding that extended across the mountains of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
Undeniably, the Hurricane Helene Flood was caused by the greenhouse effect and global warming. Appalachian poets know full well the exploitation of natural resources – deforestation, industrial pollution, and the extraction of minerals and fossil fuels with water and environmental regulations barely enforced. This is a call for Appalachian poets to holler, Stop! We can do better!
Now, more than ever, the world needs our stories, and we need to be the ones telling them. The truth must ring beyond the rims of these mountains and in our own voices, not those of observers who may relate our stories out of cultural context. Keeping in our tradition of storytelling, we need to tell about the flood – the inconsolable loss of property, landmarks, landscape, pets, wildlife, and lives. We need to relate our ongoing environmental and public health concerns. We have all suffered trauma and many experience post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms of panic or insomnia when it rains or the wind blows. Moreover, we need to show our resilience and courage. Finally, we need to show how restorative and healing poetry can be because this was not our last once in a thousand-year flood. There will be a next time. As Southern Appalachian poets, we are fact checkers on a universal scale, and we aim to tell it straight when disasters are inevitable in a carbon dioxide world.
Guidelines:
Send only a single poem about the Hurricane Helene Flood or aftermath. Avoid titles with any variation of “Hurricane Helene Flood.” Poems should be no longer than 2 pages (30-60 lines) no longer than 4.25”, and typed in 12 font, Times New Roman, submitted in MS Word Doc or Docx.
With your poem, please send a 50-word bio in the same attachment. Previously published poems are acceptable, but please include with your poem and bio the necessary acknowledgement, so that credit can be given to the publication in which the poem first appeared. Send the poems, by April 1, 2025.
Keep in mind that Albert Camus said, “The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.” We look forward to your poems as we heal and overcome together.
Submit by email to:
floodanthology@gmail.com
All proceeds go to the Helene Flood Relief Fund.
Poetry Society of Virginia 