{"id":169,"date":"2015-12-02T16:38:50","date_gmt":"2015-12-02T16:38:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thethinkersquill.com\/iwn\/?p=169"},"modified":"2015-12-02T17:49:42","modified_gmt":"2015-12-02T17:49:42","slug":"anthology-poem-crossing-the-blue-ridge-gap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thethinkersquill.com\/iwn\/anthology-poem-crossing-the-blue-ridge-gap\/","title":{"rendered":"Anthology Poem: ‘Crossing the Blue Ridge Gap’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Bill<\/a>Today we feature Bill Newby’s poem, “Crossing the Blue Ridge Gap,” one of many diverse literary works in our latest anthology.<\/p>\n

Pull up your roots, pack your bags, leave your friends, and move elsewhere. It’s a leap of risk and faith – a journey into a new world. This is what happens “Crossing the Blue Ridge Gap”.<\/p>\n

Crossing the Blue Ridge Gap<\/h3>\n

Heading south, some ten miles out,
\nthe warning signs begin.<\/p>\n

Travel Advisory.
\nDense Fog Ahead.
\nBeware of Stopped Vehicles.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a long, slow climb
\nfrom northern chill to southern ease,
\nfrom months of goodbyes
\nto the uncertainty of new friendships.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve passed through the gap repeatedly,
\nanticipating retirement and returning to work,
\nsurveying new neighborhoods and going back home.<\/p>\n

The apex has often been clouded with a milky broth
\nbarely stirred by the tail lights ahead \u2013
\na fog so thick we\u2019ve needed to slow our advance
\nto a squinting, tight-knuckled caution.<\/p>\n

But yesterday we watched
\nas the moving van swallowed all our stuff,
\nand today we crossed the gap
\nunder a crystal clear nightfall.<\/p>\n

And as we coasted down the southeastern face,
\nthe valley below and the countryside beyond
\nshimmered like diamonds
\ncast across pillows of black velvet,
\nand the road ahead felt dry and firm.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Bill Newby<\/p>\n

This poem was first published in Hilton Head Island: Time and Tide<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today we feature Bill Newby’s poem, “Crossing the Blue Ridge Gap,” one of many diverse literary works in our latest anthology. Pull up your roots, pack your bags, leave your friends, and move elsewhere. It’s a leap of risk and faith – a journey into a new world. This is what happens “Crossing the Blue […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-iwn-books-and-anthologies"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thethinkersquill.com\/iwn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thethinkersquill.com\/iwn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thethinkersquill.com\/iwn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thethinkersquill.com\/iwn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thethinkersquill.com\/iwn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.thethinkersquill.com\/iwn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":176,"href":"https:\/\/www.thethinkersquill.com\/iwn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169\/revisions\/176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thethinkersquill.com\/iwn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thethinkersquill.com\/iwn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thethinkersquill.com\/iwn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}