Cassie Mullins Moses
Along Troublesome Creek
I am displaced,
a refugee not of civil war or strife
but of location, vocation, situation.
I was born with the mountains as my shield,
knew safety in their power to block winds of change,
the comfort in their shadows.
No one made me leave,
just put the car in drive
and choked back tears as the land became as flat
as the accent that spills from my mouth
when I tell this story. I have made my choice
not to return even though the distance
back is short, the crooked path now blasted
straight into a journey I no longer care to take,
the guilt of my absence heavy.
The roads of progress would push me swiftly back
to honeysuckle towers and coal dust windows,
memories of home in the suitcase of my heart.
~
Cassie Mullins Moses was born and raised in Hindman, Kentucky. She spent her early years as James Still's next door neighbor and was rather shocked when she learned he was a famous writer. Her late father, Mike Mullins, was director of the Hindman Settlement School for 35 years. Cassie graduated from Georgetown College in 1999 with a degree in Spanish and Communication and received a Master of Arts from the University of Kentucky's Patterson School of Diplomacy in 2001. Today she lives in Cynthiana, Kentucky with her husband, Stephen, and three daughters, Riley, Lily, and Bailey. Cassie is a stay at home mom and dedicated community volunteer.
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