Tina Parker grew up in Bristol, Virginia. She moved to Kentucky when she was awarded a James Still Fellowship to earn a Master’s in English at the University of Kentucky. She now lives in Berea, Kentucky, with her husband and two young daughters. She has taught college composition, as well as middle and high school English. However, she now practices the art of multitasking as a stay-at-home mom. Her poetry and fiction have been published in Limestone, New Millennium Writings, Appalachian Heritage, and Now & Then.

Drills
                     In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

                                                                                                                                                                     —John 1:1


When daddy was growing
up in Number Six
they had three rooms, six
kids, and warmth snuck
out with the Exodus
of coal. A family
scattered like tongues
at Babel.
My daddy moved just
one hour away
but swears we’re not
mountain folk.
That’s the waitress
at Bear Diner.
Bless her heart, she’s just so country,
daddy says. And I stitch
another story. A pen at my side
like God’s word, my sword
in  
           Bible Drill:
           Attention.
           Present Bibles.
           John 1:1.
           Begin.
 
The pages of Luke sift
like salt through my fingers
so I am the first to reach
John, only to find
a blank
page. It would say,
In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was fleeting
as coal beneath a winter snow.

 

 

 

 

 

Read Tina Parker's previous work in Still

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