“Legend of the Blue Smoke” by L.B. Sedlacek

Seven Cherokee tribes
the first human inhabitants along
the Appalachia stretch from Tennessee
to North Carolina
hills flowing with rivers,
streams and magical pools,
forests home to deer, black bear,
elk
all magical too
sacred
mountains
a magical place
blue clouds
low
and swirling
named shaconage by
the Cherokee
— land of the blue smoke
(the Great Smoky Mountains)
(the Blue Ridge Mountains).

The smoke
the blue
its source:
breathing vegetation
volatile organic compounds
from shrubs, ferns, vines, trees
tiny gaseous molecules
combining to form particles
scattering blue light from the sky
and with the sunlight chasing
the sky, the humidity and
rainfall, air and elevation
it all makes natural blue.

L.B. Sedlacek is an award winning poet and author with poetry and fiction appearing in many different journals and zines.  Her latest poetry books are The Adventures of Stick People on Cars (Alien Buddha Press), The Architect of French Fries (Presa Press) and Words and Bones (Finishing Line Press.)  She is a former Poetry Editor for ESC! Magazine and also co-hosted the podcast for the small press, Coffee House to Go, for several years.  She teaches poetry at local elementary and middle schools and publishes a free resource for poets, The Poetry Market Ezine.  In her free time, L.B. enjoys swimming, reading, and taking guitar lessons.