Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017 - 66

guest column

An Otherworldly Whisper
R. T. Smith's sixth book of stories, "Doves in
Flight," will be published in 2017. He edits Shenandoah at Washington and Lee University, where he
serves as Writer-in-Residence. The author of 14
collections of poetry, Smith has twice received the
Library of Virginia Poetry Book of the Year Award,
as well as the 2008 Virginia Governor's Award for
Achievement in the Arts. Smith lives on Timber
Ridge in Rockbridge County, Virginia.

Sarah Smith

by R.T. Smith

Despite my affection for a wilding fiddle, plaintive music
from the mountain dulcimer
will always be the sound of the
Blue Ridge for me. The root
of its name means sweetness,
and its strings can hum and
whisper, lullaby and lament.
It's domestic and intimate,
just over a yard long with the
fretboard raised above a narrow soundbox and wire strings
stretched across bridges, anchored to tuning pegs on one
66 BlueRidgeCountry.com

end. A species of zither, it can
be shaped like an hourglass,
a teardrop, even a coffin, and
may be played on a table, but
preferably across a seated musician's thighs. My favorite design is a courting dulcimer, a
double set of strings enabling
a couple to pitch woo in one
room while kin listen from
another, the purr of both sets
of strings confirming that the
lovers' hands are up to music
More


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Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017

Contents
Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017 - Intro
Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017 - Cover1
Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017 - Cover2
Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017 - 3
Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017 - 4
Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017 - Contents
Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017 - 6
Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017 - 7
Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017 - 8
Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017 - 9
Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017 - 10
Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017 - 11
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Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017 - 30
Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017 - 31
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Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017 - 33
Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017 - 34
Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017 - 35
Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017 - 36
Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017 - 37
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Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017 - 40
Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017 - 41
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Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017 - 45
Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017 - 46
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Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017 - 49
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Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017 - 54
Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017 - 55
Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017 - 56
Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017 - 57
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Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017 - 63
Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017 - 64
Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017 - 65
Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017 - 66
Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017 - Cover3
Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017 - Cover4
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