“God of the Gas Station”, by Virginia Deaver, is a socio-economic commentary on the aging and dissolution of often heavily-patriarchal practices in southern Appalachia; Deaver spends most of her free time in Kentucky driving around in her car, and was inspired to create the piece after always being able to spot groups of old southern men spending all of their time sitting outside of gas stations, politicizing and preaching amongst themselves. “God of the Gas Station” depicts its self-proclaimed saint, its rocking chair deacon, in a sudden and shocking moment of realizing his own mortality; is he not as godlike as he thought? Or did he think he was ever godlike to begin with? The “saint” is bruised, bandaged, and soiled—dependent upon a piece of utility that seems to be fading into the wallpaper behind him just as fast as he realizes he, also, will fade with time; the god also highlights the unique relationship most impoverished rural Appalachians have with the workings of capitalism.