Barbara Presnell
WORK, which won Cleveland State University Poetry Center’s First Book Prize, follows Velma, Pauline, Rodney, Charlie, and others who work behind the machines of a textile mill. “Pauline Learns To Sew” was selected by Our State magazine as one of ten poems every North Carolinian should read.
Similarly, BLUE STAR tells of a single family’s experiences at war and on the home front, from the Civil War to the present. Using documents and family stories as its core, the poems tell the story of loss, heartbreak, and enduring love.
Her columns, formerly distributed by the New York Times News Service, have appeared in newspapers across the country and can now be found in Davidson Local. She lives in Lexington, North Carolina, with her husband, Bill Keesler, and rescue dog, Colby. Her adult son and his family, including two hilarious grandsons, live nearby
Recent columns from Davidson Local are:
"There is still so much to learn, to explore, to invent, to love, and to lose. Change is also part of the human story. What will not change is this: The engine that drives our lives is the human heart."
Read more: Why AI won't be the end of life as we know it
"Our language reflects who we are to a world that is swiftly losing confidence in America’s civility, thought, dignity, and respect for itself and others. We need to stop speaking Trump."
Read more: Language, leadership, and our loss of culture
"No one in Brigadoon or in Brasstown wants to wipe out an entire civilization. No one bullies anyone else and gets away with it. Power means how well you can wield your paintbrush, your pen, or your lathe—and helping someone else learn the skill."
Read more: What real democracy looks like
"When I announced to family and friends in January that my word for the year was “me,” the response was a mix of surprise and envy. It felt selfish to say it, and the responses encouraged me to explain to others that, no, I’m not being selfish, I’m not going to quit caring about others or doing what I can to make the world better. I’m simply going to try to remember who I am amid the chaotic, spinning world I—and most of us—have found myself in."
Read more: Seeking balance in an unbalanced world
"The thing that our leadership doesn’t understand is that when you attempt to take something away—books from schools and libraries, history as it continues to open our eyes, decency, half-time shows that unite, even citizen-made cell-phone videos that show images that are crystal clear—people only want that thing more.
"We want truth. We want to trust. I think we can trust again, maybe one person at a time."
Read more: Rebuilding trust, one neighbor at a time
"'Way-oh-way-oh' goes the chorus in my head. The monks have touched me. I’m not even sure what peace means anymore, but I too want to walk with the monks and search for it. We’re not living in 1987 anymore. This might not be the zany, big-haired walk the Bangles introduced, but it’s the walk we need; it’s the collective, multicultural, global walk of 2026."
In OTHERWISE, I'M FINE, Barbara Presnell tells a heart-wrenching personal story of loss, healing, and forgiveness. As she joins with her brother and sister in a search across 1944-1945 Europe for their father who died too young, they confront deep chasms of separation and silence to find the heart of the man they lost and the love of a mother who did her best to keep them together.
Stories are Presnell’s way into the lives of ordinary people who work hard and find strength in community and family. PIECE
Books
"There is beauty and warmth in Presnell’s writing. It feels soulful."
Kelly Kolodny, Southern Literary Review
Video by Wild Camp Media
"This is a beautiful book."
—John Lane, author of The Father Box