3 Appalachian Poems

COAL DUST

There are times when death rushes by silently,
Unnoticed;
But there are times when we invite them deliberately
For one who has sought this meeting it could be a
Fatal encounter.

There are those who wear no masks
Who they are and what they are doing may depend
On the dark of night
Or from the light of day
For there is no time when evil sleeps, soon to be
There at all times, even the dead can still be dead

There is a feeling as if time has been suspended
That the past and future exist as one – for there is one
From long ago who has returned to live again – he is
Destined to live and sow the seeds of terror
In the dark hours of the night.

We have mourned and wept for those who have passed on
Our tears have dried, but our hearts are scarred indelibly;
Life continues, although
Our memories stir to refreshen the wound.
We are therefore vulnerable to the sudden shock.

It will soon be dawn, soon faint waves of light
Will appear on the horizon,
Dispelling the darkness
And families know of what is happening in the darkness,
What it is to find a moment of light, only to be
Plunged into darkness again;
For those who seem to be their friends have
Hypnotized them and the moment of truth that could be
Salvation
Has been denied them.

?
RUMBLING DOWN

Rumbling down
scream of agony and pain,
the mountain is failing down.

What of the creatures who
make their home inside the
beautiful Appalachian?

Is more oil more precious
than ruining the Appalachian Mountains?
Is it worth the raping and scaring of the land?
Was it legal to ask home owners
To sell mineral rights?

Drinking water contaminated,
mudslides galore
and poverty continues to grow

Ground is ruined and grows
strange veggies
the air stinks of smoke and slug ponds
that has nowhere to go

Schools in the way of mud
homes that crack and turn black
and only the citizens are left behind.

?
SCARRED MOUNTAINS

Scarred mountains,
Screaming in agony,
As oil companies continue to rap the land –
It’s like cutting off the top of a pineapple,
It can never be replaced.

“We are helping the people of Eastern Kentucky,”
The oil companies with their huge corporate lawyers will boost,
“and we’re making their lives better.”
Bullshit.

What about the people dying of cancer because of toxic coal dust?
What about the sludge ponds that get bigger each day?
Are they waiting for the sludge to come storming into the houses or towns?
What if, what if?