Chris’ debut chapbook, Yesterday Echoes, is a lyrical meditation on memory, heritage, and the sacredness of place. Rooted in the Southern landscape of Kentucky and Tennessee, these poems explore the quiet beauty of everyday life and the enduring presence of those who came before us. With vivid sensory detail and emotional clarity, these poems capture the essence of home, the rhythms of family, and the spiritual threads that bind past to present. From the hum of honeybees in a summer garden to the scent of cherry tobacco curling from a father’s pipe, each poem invites readers into a world where the ordinary becomes extraordinary. Through reflections on childhood, faith, and the passage of time, Yesterday Echoes offers a heartfelt tribute to the people and places that shape us.
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Yesterday Echoes
—The title poem from Yesterday Echoes
Cinder blocks stack and rise on the nine acres
where orchard grass was once cut into hay bales.
Progress grows, choking out the meadow
lined in birch and boxelder. My pond lays dormant,
stagnant between white-lined asphalt, too hot for hoofs
and paws to walk across for a drink.
Forty years dim and shade the landscape
from forest to field to factory. Forklifts skitter
where deer, coyotes, and rabbits once foraged,
nested, and raised their young. The country road
swells to a four-lane highway squeezed
between Home Depot and Walmart.
I remember cars whispering past
on hot summer afternoons.
Crickets and cicadas drowning out Mom
calling me for dinner. The poplar I climbed
every day for ten years still stands
on a patch of grass next to the dumpsters.
Cardboard boxes crushed and bundled in stacks
where Dad rested after picking beans in the garden.
The frozen food aisle smells of BBQ on the grill
and honeysuckle that grew along our back fence.
I hear honeybee hives buzz and hum at the meat counter.
Ambient music plays Every Breath You Take
from my record collection.
The checkout aisle was once the back porch
where me and my sister had watermelon
spitting contests every summer.
Our swing set looms in my mind's eye
next to the cart return. I see my baby brother
swinging, giggling, chain screeching.
Thus Your Life Grows
—My first published poem was published after I entered it into the 2016 Chattanooga Writers’ Guild Spring Contest and won second place.
Terra cotta shards, half-buried beside a sun-bleached cloak snagged in a thicket, implode under a soft-lit sky. Dark rich mocha pours from the Big Dipper, staining white cotton chestnut brown, filling broken crevices of shattered earthenware. Sanded smooth, blushed by salty tears, fire-kilned pottery takes shape beneath skillful dainty hands. I drink from my glazed cup of hazelnut java, calm waters lap my memory. Yes, my dear, you are the one.
Read Chris’ Poetry Published Online
Some poems have been published in online journals and magazines that are freely available to read. They are gathered here so you can explore the pieces directly. Each poem lives in a space that welcomed Chris’ voice, and she is honored to share them with you.
Click through, linger a while, and thank you for reading.
Published Works in Print
Explore beautifully curated collections of anthologies and literary journals featuring Chris’ poetry. Each listing includes publication details and links to purchase directly from the publisher or bookseller. Books you can hold in your hands and represents years of storytelling, reflection, and creative growth. She is grateful to be part of these collections and even more grateful for readers like you who seek them out. Thank you for supporting the literary spaces that make them possible.
