Listening to the Blues

by Carol Flake

Now my Southern Soul can sing.
Blues thrum my roots
like boiled peanuts, cornbread, squirrel stew,
black men’s music spills into a white woman’s heart.

Bouncy, brash—
guitar strings strum
saxophone blares screeches
fingers dance
bass holds the beat
and now percussion.

Whining, wailing
plaintive cry,
echoed by all the instruments.
Sorry, sullen
twangy, resonant,
the blues speak.

Emotions boil
sadness, joy, regret.
Slide guitar laments
broken hearts, lies told, love cheated.
Now jumping and jiving,
now tragic and mournful.

Harmonica adds its wail to the mix—
just hear that lonesome whistle blow.
Twang goes the guitar!
A perfect supper of sound,
echoes in the deepest layers of being.
My soul is stirred by the blues.

Carol Flake, a retired college professor, has spent the past thirteen years developing her inner artist. A potter and a photographer, she is now trying to discover her poetic voice.

About Listening to the Blues—I wrote this poem as my response to inspiration from listening to classical music, jazz, and the blues.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Issue 28 – Spring 2023
Home
- Elizabeth Lutyens, Editor in Chief
  “It’s Only Human”
Interview
- Great Smokies Writing Program Coordinator Jennifer McGaha
  With Special Features Editor Janet Moore
  “What’s Next: Building on Firm Foundations”
Nonfiction
- Amy Jane Lynch
  “Walking the Barrel”
- Amanda Burns
  “Remembering Clare: A Love Story”
- Zoe Rhine
  “The Prankster’s Laughter Stone-Skips Across the Lake”
Fiction
- Billie Harper Buie
  “Refugees”
- Pam J. Hecht
  “The Lions”
Poetry
- Judith A. Davis
  “Stopping by a Farmstand on a Summer Afternoon”
- Karen Luke Jackson
  “Open Heart”
- Margaret Bishop
  “Dying to Be Born”
Craft Session
- Bruce Spang
  “Syntax as Style in Poetry:
  The Invisible Craft of an Artful Sentence in Poetry”
Reflection
- Zoe Newton
  “Selective Memory”
Archives
The Great Smokies Review

Elizabeth Lutyens, Editor-in-Chief, Founder
Janet Moore, Special Features Editor
Julie Abbott, Submissions Editor
Patrick Pickering, UNC Asheville Intern
Michael Mauney, Photographer

Jennifer McGaha, Great Smokies Writing Program Coordinator
Lilly Danzis, GSWP Administrative Assistant
Tracey Rizzo, Dean of Humanities, UNC Asheville

The Great Smokies Review is an online publication of The Great Smokies Writing Program, a joint effort of the UNC Asheville departments of Literature and Language, Creative Writing, and the Asheville Graduate Center.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
We accept student fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction submitted by faculty of the Great Smokies Writing Program and other UNC Asheville writing programs. Submitters will receive a guidelines checklist to complete.

© 2023 The Great Smokies Review

All rights reserved. This publication may be freely distributed only in its entirety and without modification, and only for private use. Excerpts may be reproduced and distributed only by permission, except in the case of quotations for use in reviews and interviews. The creative works published in The Great Smokies Review do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of its staff, The Great Smokies Writing Program, or the University of North Carolina Asheville.