Flash fiction, The Tahoma Review

The Tahoma Review, wonderful cultural arbiters that they are, just published a flash fiction piece "Late July, Clover Lick, West Virginia." My friend Megan, who was delightful enough to read the story, asked if Clover Lick was a real place.

Oh, yes indeedy.

Clover Lick, West Virginia is just down the dirt road from Stony Bottom, West Virginia (also a real place) where I grew up. In the decades since I lived in Appalachia, the place names have gotten more mundane, but I hold on to the really cool ones. All of these towns along the Greenbriar River buzz with insects more than conversation, but their leafy fogs and muddy waters certainly inspire.

This guy Mike Breiding took great photos of the Greenbriar River and one photo of the restored train depot in Clover Lick, West Virginia. I spent my childhood, when not hiding from various childhood obligations by reading books in low light, going to the Greenbriar when I wasn't supposed to. Rivers can do that, and then the memory of them takes a whole new shape years later.