We lived in Courtney.
Across the Yadkin River from Winston-Salem.
I was working as a porter in a department store.
Larry and Hazel and Charly visited. They had hiked
a portion of the Appalachian Trail. Larry asked me if I had
something short he could publish. A novella, say. I gave him
Playing Hurt. A friend of his, Justin, was a printer.
He printed it. It came out in 1976.
My first appearance in print.
It was the race part of
RACE, SEX, AND LIBEL.
What would colored town look like
in Utopia? An equal opportunity offender.
I offend colored people, white people, women--
TRAILER PARK TRAMP--men--THE BOOKS IN
MY LIFE. Rednecks, Yankees. Bless their little tootie hearts.
I cock a snook at New York.
A company town for arts and letters.