a poem for the coal miner on interstate-79
raphaela pavlakos
mist hangs low in the Pennsylvania Valley
mountains stir, still sleeping, whispering soft lullabies
to the dew drops that cling to wind-cut grass and yellow clover
peaks of tin roofs and burnt-out barn gables
pierce the curtain and greet the orange sun at dawn
mountains roll, lolling their tongues like old dogs
ancient, gentle things that live between the trees of the Alleghenies
deep in Appalachia
old beasts sleep like giants
their hunched backs rounded
with the weight of geological time
soot stains caking their feet and fingers curled around a chisel
down from the road the hollers wave
their white flags and the railways weaves a path with the river
bridges loom like iron sutures, stapling land
and roads over brackish water, brown rivers
the sun rises again
turning yesterday’s puddles into rainbows
a mirage of metaphors for blue collar magic
cradled in the asphalt like forgotten dreams
red lights flicker and for the first time I wish
I wasn’t so alone, just to not be at the Texaco before dawn
it is a strange but human magic
to make mundanity absurd
to whisper starlight into the shadows of tall trees
and weave streetlight into gold threads to suture days closed with
a testament of memory, halcyon destiny
we sweep prayers like soot into the pail
and offer it to sleeping beasts at dawn
coal miner’s never stutter when their hands are clasped in prayer
Raphaela Pavlakos (she/her) is a 3rd year PhD student in McMaster University’s English and Cultural Studies department and a poet. Her research looks at Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee poetry and landscape as alternative sites of memory, using research-creation to intersect her scholarly and creative production. Raphaela’s poetry can be found in the Taj Mahal Review, Word Hoard, Sanctuary: A Cootes Paradise Anthology (forthcoming), and graduate journals like The Lamp. She co-authored a self-published poetry collection called Mythopoesis in 2022 with Georgia Perdikoulias, which is available through Kindle Direct Publishing.
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