Holy Coal

Abstract

Holy Coal Joseph Montgomery (bio) Loyal knob of luminosity—Daylong sizzle of TV programming and bulb watts burn unceasing.Primetime meanderings through network landscapes,the leeching plug of miles of wire and the spitting lamp of light to sootha child's nightmares.We live each day the members of a light-switch religion,And our tithe is weighted by tons—Weighted bySmokey Mountain dynamite.Weighted byDragline monstrosities shredding down mountains.Weighted bydischarge thunder and a rockslide surge.Weighted bymud water slicks down mountains naked and slippery.Weighted bySkates of mire soup and rainwater gush through back-yards and pools on living room carpets.Weighted bystreams choked and swallowed and sludge valleys oozing into bath water.Weighted bythe Flyrock hurtle through rooftops, black water rashes and acid drainage seeping through our rivers.Weighted byfloods flashing through streams once gentle; so gentle a thing maderavenous for coal.Weighted bycascading sludge piling into basements, piling into front porches, piling into living rooms where families can't keep their feet dry.Bombs bombs bombs level to a moonscape gravel tundra, and the harvestof coal seams, the black-lung expedition, stepping away with allour worth and waves goodbye to flattened Appalachia.Turn on your desk lamp, bedside torch, illuminating comfort andThink of us [End Page 79] Whose voice cries stop! but we aren't heard because the lights in the cityare too bright.Think of usWho live in mountains and iron-toothed dragons sleep on our gold.Think of usWho stand in front of yellow tanks, coughing machines rolling throughour hollers.Think of usWho corporations quell Appalachian accent and won't shake our soil-divinghands.Think of uswho find our coal and our mountains somewhere west and east, heapingin a furnace and flipping an Executive another profit.Think of uswho wake to mornings of blast sirens and the motor groan.Think of usWho walk all day in the forest and still smell construction.Think of usWhose grandfathers are still coughing the mines.Think of usWhose heritage lands are bruised and raped by howling corporateAmerica.Think of usWhose walls are paper-thin and we hear our neighbors crying.Holy holy holy profit! Holy holy holy coal! Holy holy holy Mountains!Holy mountain breasts touched by business hands!Holy profit libido!Holy sucking dynamo! Holy consumption!Holy electricity! Holy gigawatts!Holy brimming power grid!Holy holy light-switch creed!You level our heaven lifting your heaven higher. We will not become the Hell for your religion. We will not become the Hell for yourneon blazing heaven.We will not walk from our Eden.We will not walk from our Eden for you,burning the lights in your towers of Babel.We will not walk from our Eden for you, mounting the Holy Roman Empire. [End Page 80] We will not walk from our Eden for you,our gardens feeding your sport-coat Caesars.We will not walk from our Eden for you,dazzling midnight cities shining too bright to sleep.We will not walk from our Eden for you,and the building of your electric Babylon.We will not walk from our Eden for you,Who refuse to seek a solution. We will not walk from our Eden For the hallowed light-switch— For holy coal. [End Page 81] Joseph Montgomery Joseph Montgomery works as a barista at the Black Feather Café in Berea, Kentucky, and attends Eastern Kentucky University. This is his first published work. Copyright © 2010 Berea College