Best Piney Poems
Deep in the piney woods
A call beckons across the branch
A call that isn't animal nor human
A call that makes your hair stand alert and skin prickly from fright!
The light of the full moon awakens the spirits and the calling from the piney woods.
If you doubt my story and risk your very life, then make sure you take a
weapon into the piney woods. Well, I believe the call is from the ghost of the moon
shiners that have lost their lives in the mica mines many years ago.
The mica was
big business one time until the mines went dry.
The deep holes were perfect cover for the moonshine stills until
the revenuers caught the culprits. A great gun battle raged until death.
Today the crumpled mica shimmer in the red clay is all that is left of the mines.
The local children like to scare
themselves with the
abandoned rock graveyard along the edge of the piney woods. If you look close at
the mound of rocks...it appears that there is a bony hand protruding from the grave
and pointing directly at you to leave. The ancient thick cedar trees seem to
guard the graves and whisper "Warning, Warning."
In 1969 there was another vilolent firey death on the road through the piney woods.
A man died inside a burning wrecked truck, screaming
"Don't let me burn to death" repeatedly until the bitter charred end.
When the moon is right the echo carries his screams across the hills.
A young man only age seventeen lost his life in a fatal car wreck on
the steep curved road. His life was taken so fast; he is said to walk
the hills searching for his sweet ride to
carry him on his journey, unaware of his eternal fate.
On a short walk along the shallow creek bank reveals an old rock formation covered
in moss now but built by a people of long ago. Maybe Indian or early settlers,
no one knows the architects but if you stand in a certain spot where the
ground is always wet with a reddish ooze. You can feel a cold icy finger
across your face and neck.
Is the call a young buck calling his bride in the after life; is the call an
evil doer fighting to avoid beelzebub's snare? The apparition can be seen
briefly if you desire look when the wind and moon are right. Waynesville
holler offers more
than beauty in the day but beware of the moon lit walks that
young lovers
brave or you
may be the next victim of the piney woods!
Silver shadows, moving in piney woods
golden leaves, on stick thin branches
Touching, grating, letting their presence known
On the ground, seemingly dead things move
In the breeze, bronze shapes flutter and lift
Then rest, to wait for winter’s chill, and springtime rains
To nourish, the great roots of nearby trees, dormant yet alive
Golden leaves set the stage, for sunlit growth and warmer days
To come, when life will sprout and grow once again
In due time these too will bronze, die and fall
To sustain the forest crust and renew thick wood
Nature’s promise held in silver shadows, moving in piney woods
In the morning dew I saw my sweetheart
resting on a bed of queen anne's lace.
He looked every bit the dapper part;
had the look of love on his strong face.
The day burned on and we found a love nest
hidden in the shadows of the trees.
I laid my touseled head upon his chest
and whispered his dear name into the breeze.
We loved each other well into the night
as the sky took on it's ghostly charms.
Moonbeams gathered to our left and right
and we lovingly entwined our arms.
I could stay lost in these woods with him
making love beneath the piney boughs.
We would watch the stars till they grew dim
repeating to each other our love vows.
A couple of Saturdays ago I remember,
A rather warm day in early September.
A young man in our church and us had just decided,
We wanted to be baptized. Were we excited!
My husband and I crawled in the truck bed
How rough a ride! Oh what a dread!
When we finally got to our destination,
It felt just like I was on vacation.
Good food, good company what else would be,
From such a great church family?
We ate and laughter all filled the woods,
Nobody was critical with the shouldn’t and should’s
A couple hours later, when we got through eatin’
We went to the river side for a meetin’
The water was cold from the mountains flowing
I chilled you to the bone, but it was just the knowing.
Such a great time with the church had we,
That September day at a river called Big Piney!
PINEY WOODS
Robin Hood of the Piney Woods
passing out cobs of sweet corn,
reading the Holy Word – living it.
Loving others as he loves himself.
Fighting for truth and justice.
Rescuing foreigners from cotton fields,
giving them back to mothers and fathers.
Loving the whole Rachel tree of
the Free State of Jones -
America stands proud – looking up…
Sometimes sad, and madder than mountains -
Looking up at humans hanging from trees.
Looking up to those cursed upon trees…
Looking up to Jesus who bore our sins!
Telling tales of the forgotten old.
So many stories, that need to be told.
Freedom costs. It costs big!
But we survive. We breathe. We thrive.
Will you gather at the Piney Woods,
hearts bare, lion-hearted, prepared?
Kim Rodrigues ©2017