(for AC)

Being the grime and sand in each rainbow
of the coal stained church windows 
of the Gospel Light Free Will Baptist,
and the silence of little babies 
like those thank you cards embossed 
into politeness by Daddy’s screams, 
and owls screeching in the snow.

Being that you hunted on a grizzled road 
wet with life, a sop-rained 120 miler nearer
to Pikeville where rivers made the lake 
with help. Nature, interrupted by cash-grab 
hands looking for clean-coal. Rolling, 
a chauffeured Mercedes-Benz, where
the hills whisper your name every six years.

Addison.     Mitchell.     McConnell.