Talking about sex shouldn’t be taboo. But we live in a society where a lot of people, especially those raised in small towns and church pews, still hold these views. When I wrote Hillbilly Tales, I knew I wasn’t going to tiptoe around the subject.
I wasn’t going to sanitize desire or dress it up for polite company. I wanted to write about sex the way I’ve lived it, messy, beautiful, awkward, wild, healing, and sometimes hilarious.
Here are five ways Hillbilly Tales speaks boldly and unapologetically about sex without shame, without filters, and without asking permission.
1. It Treats Desire Like a Human Right
I believe that talking about your sexual desires shouldn’t be like sharing some dirty secret. In poems like “Bring It” and “Contagious” desire isn’t something to be hidden or whispered about. In fact, these poems show you how it can be celebrated.
I write about wanting someone, craving touch, and feeling that magnetic pull without labeling it “naughty” or “bad.” Sex is part of being alive. It’s not just physical; it’s emotional, spiritual, even cosmic sometimes. And dammit, it’s real. Why pretend it’s not?
2. It Shows the Humor in Lust
We all know that sex isn’t always candlelight and slow jams. Sometimes it’s clumsy. Sometimes it’s loud. Sometimes it’s funny as hell. In “Two-Headed Man” and “With a Lick,” I lean into that humor. I don’t write about sex to be vulgar, I write it to be honest. And sometimes honesty includes a giggle, a smirk, or an eyebrow raise.
3. It Embraces Female Pleasure
I grew up in a culture where women were taught to hide their wants, especially when it came to the bedroom. So I flipped the script. Hillbilly Tales is full of women who want, who feel, who chase, who moan. “It Starts With the Dress” and “Pain and Pleasure” both explore the anticipation and intensity of female pleasure. Women in my poems don’t apologize for wanting more, they demand it.
4. It Connects Sex to the Bigger Picture
Sex, in Hillbilly Tales, isn’t just about getting off, it’s about getting free. It’s tied to power, vulnerability, control, healing, even grief. In “Seedling,” sex becomes a metaphor for creation and life. In “Bad Medicine,” it intersects with addiction and need. My poems don’t treat sex like a throwaway topic, they treat it like the deeply human, transformative experience it is.
5. It Owns the Raw, Real, & Unfiltered Experience
I don’t write behind lace curtains. I write from the gut. That means sometimes the sex is wild, sometimes it’s awkward, and sometimes it’s lonely. But it’s always real. Whether it’s a hookup, a heartbreak, or a long-night-with-someone-you-shouldn’t-still-love kind of situation, I put it on the page the way it happened, or the way it felt when it did.
In Hillbilly Tales, I don’t write about sex with shame, I write with spirit. Because we all have bodies. We all have stories. And we all deserve to be heard without judgment.
So go ahead, blush if you must. But don’t look away. This is what honesty looks like.
– Maddie
