earth note 80

bicycling the little cities of black diamonds

hemlock ohio bittersweet land
only a mountain song could love
a ’68 charger propped up on cement blocks
with a pair of dangling black engineer boots
sticking out from underneath
shadows of an abandoned coal mine
rammed into slumping green shoulders
hillsides beaten round at the tops
mineral dust in sepia
before and after noon
has passed

a concrete railroad trestle is coming down
while the grass is overgrowing up
a seniority list of railroad workers
still hangs from 1882 in a local museum
their memories of survival
a wild creek coming off the ridge

--- e b bortz

(published in split w*sky, 2003)
(published in earth notes and other poems, Least Bittern Books, 2015)