Clark comes from a long line of storytellers. His Grandma, Leta Hicks, often shared colorful memories of her childhood in Oklahoma and her young adulthood during World War II. Clark’s father lifted storytelling to a new level, regularly repeating his experiences and adding comedic commentary to the tales.
Mississippi Musings is a byproduct of Clark’s life and relationships living in south Mississippi, growing up middle class and Southern Baptist, then forging his own path and beliefs in his home state. The stories travel over many decades, winding in and out of familiar places, events, and Southern happenings. This book of essays suggests that Mississippi, after all its challenges, is a place of hospitality, beauty, and charm.
An excerpt from Mississippi Musings
The quiet darkening woods in Amite County were suddenly startled by a close, strange, and loud sound, like a screen door slamming against the trees. There was no house nearby. Jamie Stewart had finished squirrel hunting when in the woods he heard the unmistakable noise, something unnatural and unexplainable. He hurried into a clearing to meet his father who said he had not heard a thing.
Jamie could not shake his curiosity and suspicion of the unidentified deep metallic rumble in the swamp of the Tickfaw basin. Eager to investigate, he and his father drove their old Datsun pickup truck through the dirt backroads, a maze of turns known only to locals, zigzagging around ancient sloughs and the winding path of Easley Creek. Sounds carry and their originating directions can deceive the ear. But Jamie knew his native woods, and windows down, they trekked to the approximate location of the mysterious sound. Once there, they turned off the truck to the silence of the night. But moments later, people could be heard talking in a patch of dense woods.
Jamie exited the truck, and after walking a few yards in the direction of moving flashlights, he stumbled upon an airplane crash site, with people everywhere.