Whimsy

My friend Jere calls Bell Buckle "the enchanted village." Sometimes, I think it should be called "the eccentric village," instead. Residents include farmers, teachers, lawyers, editors and news writers, doctors, car salesmen, retired folks of all kinds, and the poet laureate (for life) of the state of Tennessee -- Margaret Britton Vaughn.
Recently, Maggi sold her former house (complete with her poets' garden) and bought a house on Webb Highway, next to the Baptist Church. In her front yard are two most unusual sculptures -- one made of old radiators and another combining all manner of ordinary metal tools. Their cheerful colors provide just the sort of whimsy that brightens a stormy day.

Like her sculptures, Maggi's poems speak directly in folksy language and rhythms. A one-time songwriter for Ernest Tubb, Conway Twitty, and Charlie Louvin among others, Maggi is as popular in town as she is on the road, where she performs a one-woman stand-up poetry reading.