The Poetry Show: Appalachia

 

 

Enlighten Radio Presents

Diamonds in my Coal Bucket

 

Appalachian poets deliver compelling and powerful stories and images of (among the) most ancient mountains. Dora Malech, Robert Lewis Weeks, Frank X. Walker, Sarah Loudin Thomas, Pauletta Hansel, and more...

Broadcast Wednesdays, 10 AM on player.enlightenradio.org

Hosts: Janet Harrison, John Case

This Episode Recorded 07072026 --

Mountain Mama

by Sara Loudin Thomas

 

Mountain Mama
There is truth in the trailer park

and honesty in the car on blocks.

Starvin’ Marvin and “as seen on TV”

live cheek by jowl with the likes

of handmade quilts and apple butter;

old-time music and the oral tradition.

Some folks say it isn’t True,

isn’t the way things used to be.

But lose a grandfather to the mines,

an uncle to the war, your mother

to a cancer that gnaws at her soul—

lose a child for no reason you can see.

Then you’ll find the fragile beauty

in the never-ending yard sale.

You’ll learn to love the tourists

who buy corncob pipes, coonskin caps,

and lumps of coal carved like bears.

When the giant timber companies

run the local sawmill out of money

and Aunt Eunice can’t remember your name—

when your best friend moves to California

and minimum wage is doing alright, man.

Then you’ll find the potent wisdom

in workers’ compensation, food stamps

and tonight’s lotto number—

dear God let me win.

A one in a billion chance is better

than watching the land your ancestors

cleared wash away . . . no wish away

on the promises of strip mines

and a future you can’t afford to wait.

At night, the lights from Wal-Mart glow

like the promise of a better tomorrow.

 

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