SINGING THE MOUNTAINS

Like Charles Frazier's Inman in Cold Mountain, I believe that repeating the names of loved places can fend off terror and grief. This week, I need such names to comfort me, as we all do at times of loss. Nancy Dilllingham's lovely poem sings the mountains back to me and breathes spirit into the places we love. If ever we doubt the power of poetry, we should go to Nancy's poems. As guest blogger today, she brings an authentic music of place to the history and culture of the southern mountains. And how resonant the conclusion, the names sounding away into the distance! 

Epos

Once you dip your toe in Big Ivy, you never want to leave.

                                                                           --Legend

Absalom

eloped with his fifteen-year-old sweetheart

swam the Swannanoa

with his bride-to-be on his back

bought the first Big Ivy tract

built a home

in the mountain valley

out of hand-hewn logs

a chimney of native stone

and a hearthstone of flint

planted an apple orchard

a grape arbor

and a garden

part vegetable

part old-fashioned flower

and stinging nettles

around his natural spring

It stood for one hundred years

Its razing marked the end of an era

Big Ivy

named for mountain laurel

or ivy that grew 

along its banks

Big Ivy

Big Creek

Haw Branch

Sugar Creek

There is a landscape 

of the heart

that sets us apart

the spill and dark sparkle

of water

that runs deep

cuts to the core

through six generations and more

There is a landscape 

of the heart

that sets us apart

the Corner Rock

the Snake Den

the Coleman Boundary

the Pinnacle

Balsam Gap

Mount Mitchell

Craggy