Just Down the Road by Dee Stribling

“Dee Stribling’s fingers strike a gentle fire in this chapbook, Just Down the Road – not unlike the one that Thoreau’s subtle touch enabled in Walden. Often, when I’m overcome with emotion, the first symptom is a burning sensation in my nose. Stribling’s offering is a first-degree nose stinger. It’s potent. It’s real. It unwinds loss, innocence, love, and it defines generations. This taut, beautiful collection has an uncanny ability to awaken memories that are surprisingly personal. Charmingly southern. Assuredly universal.”

–Dawn Shamp, author of On Account of Conspicuous Women

“These are wonderful, contemplative poems, anthems to the Appalachian earth, the geography, the people and ether that Dee Stribling evokes and commemorates with every syllable. “Bells toll across the valley,” meting out time, conferring benediction. The earth turns and the prayerful language of the poet reckons it in all its mystery and kinship. Just Down the Road leads inevitably, movingly, back home.”

–Joseph Bathanti, NC Poet Laureate, 2012-2014