A poet's migration

I've lived nearly all my life down South and it shows in my poetry. The cadence of the lines, the historical subject matter I choose, and my attention to narrative -- that probably comes from sitting by an oil drum barbecue grill listening to my Uncle Vess tell lies. Except for four years -- I can't remember at the beginning of my life, and another year in my twenties teaching college in Cleveland -- I'd never really been anywhere else except down South and I never really wanted to.

Recently, I had an opportunity to teach creative writing at a small liberal arts college in Illinois. It would mean a move of more than a thousand miles, away from my mother and family in Talladega, …