Bloody Harlan
driven from company house and store
damned script won’t buy anything elsewhere
hungry mouths I’m supposed to feed
yawn at me with hollow eyes
damned script won’t buy anything elsewhere
Sheriff’s deputies lean on shotguns and
yawn at me with hollow eyes
“Which side are you on, Boys?”
Sheriff’s deputies lean on shotguns and
no one goes to the mines today
“Which Side are You on, Boys?”
eight hour day with decent pay, or
no one goes to the mines today
cave-ins and bullet holes
eight hour day with decent pay or
mark the mountains with blood
cave-ins and bullet holes
carry The Union into these hills
Mark the Mountains with blood!
either way, we’re dead men
carry The Union into these hills
is it worth dying for
either way, we’re dead men
swinging a pickaxe well into their rock
is it worth dying for,
driven from company house and store,
swinging a pickaxe well into their rock –
hungry mouths I’m supposed to feed?
13 thoughts on "Bloody Harlan"
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Wonderful tribute to Kentucky history.
Thank you!
So worth reading. “Those hungry mouths I’m supposed to feed”
Thanks for sharing
Thanks so much, ML!
Brilliant! Wow! Powerful! Very moving, as intended. Thank you for writing this
The first draft of this pantoum was written in 2005. Yeah, I still have the first draft. LoL
Thank you for your kind comments!
The rhythm of this poem is like a pickaxe’s fall on an uneven surface, chipping away for answers to troubling and urgent questions. So well crafted–especially, the pattern in which the second line of each stanza becomes the first line in the next, and other lines are repeated, like a chant, or the fevered prayers of a worried mind.
Thanks so much, Bud. I really think this form, the pantoum, is my absolute favorite. (I have poet friends who find that strange. LoL ) It’s like solving a puzzle — making the lines make sense in both their first and second entry into the poem. If you haven’t played with this form, give it a try and see what your think. Sometimes, I’ll write one and it definitely “doesn’t work,” but if I set it aside for a few weeks and return to it after it has steeped in my brain, it will start to come together.
I’m learning a lot by participating in this event! I hadn’t heard of the Tanka or Cinquain form…now–thanks to you–I know about the Pantoum. I’ll have to give this a go. Thank you!
Good work merging history with the pantomime form!
Thank you so much, Greg!
Fantastic poem, EE. I found it an effective, thoughtful, and timely piece
Thanks ever so much, Shaun. It’s an older piece in my stash, but yeah, I thought it was “timely.”