From The Coal Mine …
Liars …
early prophets
of impending doom
(The New Room: February, 2024)
The Moment Shared
We often forget
wrapped up
in our own drama
— that everyone feels the same
(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)
Circle Game
The purpose of war
is peace
The guarantor of peace
— is war
(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)
Crucibles
Moss
hides the message
Whose altar
ascends
In joy’s
adulation
The pilgrimage
— ends
(1st Book Of Prayers: February, 2024)
I Bequeath Thee …
Birthing a memory
o’er future and past
To carry my words
inside others to last
Birthing a memory
o’er time and space
To those still unborn
— my welcoming grace
(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)
Four Steps
Incinerate
all kindling that burns
Articulate
the knowledge that yearns
Reciprocate
before it’s your turn
Elucidate
— each lesson hard earned
(The New Room: February, 2024)
True Fortune
Good health is loaned
— but never owned
(Deamsleep: February, 2024)
She wandered like a gypsy to Wyoming,
Where she settled in and sojourned for a spell.
She found herself a billet at the Hog Ranch,
And son, there weren’t no high-tone clientele.
It was just a soiled dove’s privy crib
Where Martha Jane set up her chicken coop.
She was a cowhand’s heartthrob,
All buckskin and sutler whiskey.
She could drive a team of oxen.
She could drive a man to sin.
Times she frequented Old Bedlam,
Drillin’ with them soldier boys;
Some were galvanized Yankees,
Some were mere tenderfoot lads.
When she wasn’t barkin’ at a knot,
She’d be somewhere raisin’ sand.
She considered each calamity
That buggered her contentment
As just another maverick to brand.
Twenty-two miles to the Roslyn mine.
Two blocks beyond, ten headstones you'll find.
All dated the same the registry claims,
though the wind, the ice and acidified rain
have disfigured and stolen the names of those souls.
My tears they might wash and reveal some of those
but are wasted. They run down my nose.
The #4 Mine blew out in ‘09.
Now ten graves lay neatly in line.
Each man skipped the Army to work underground,
found eternal peace and never were found.
Twenty got out, then the fan house she blew
from an explosion of black damp allowed to accrue.
Ten lives disappeared in the dust and the fumes
And in the dark they were buried like in Brigadoon
I left by the toll road, crested the pass,
crystal streams from Lakedale my compass.
To a sacred valley of aspen and ash.
Ten decades to heal now, tears looking back.
historylink.org/File/9182
and images.findagrave.com/photos/2020/49
/19026379_61b0f05c-4e3f-4938-82d3-5f06c999da64.jpeg
C-anary in a coal mine
H-as kept you from peril;
R-emain fully vigilant
I-n the coming coldest chill.
S-ee the canary in a coal mine,
T-o be safe from any harm;
I-f you are always aware,
N-o way will wound touch your arm.
E-arly warning of danger,
J-eopardy's display of caution;
O-n the thirtieth of July,
Y-ou have God's protection.
P-repare for the threat,
A-n alarm sounds so loud;
L-ord God will burn all things,
M-aking them perish into the cloud.
O-pen your eyes to menace,
N-ever ignore the scupper's sign;
E-vade the detrimental risk,
S-ay the canary in a coal mine.
Caged in shadows
the canary breathes
amidst the clutter and din
of coal miners
who toil to extract
livelihoods
from veins underground
fortunes told
with its demise
too late for those who seek
fresh air and light
as families above ground
gather and wait
under a pale sun
for news
they feel in their veins
will come.
They were working in a coal mine
six miles below the ground
We hit a pocket someone yelled
then the walls came tumbling down
They could not see through all that dust
as they scrambled to get out
The shaft was sealed with tons of rock
"we're trapped" came someones shout
Within three hours the dust was gone
thank god no one was hurt
They sat there staring endlessly
at those tons of rock and dirt
We're here for good a man cried out
"start praying" someone said
Don't give up, there's always hope
no matter what you dread
A miner took a shovel and pick
and headed down the shaft
You're going deeper someone yelled
"I know, I feel a draft"
They heard him digging in the dark
the lanterns growing dim
Then someone yelled, as a brilliant light
shone blindly right past him
Some miners yelled and others cried
"my god this can't be true"
For there alone was a world beyond
the wall that man broke through......