Black lung words
hung on daddy’s tongue
pulling me from coal
on the white wing hope
I’d see a better day.
He said the devil paints
rainbows with pills,
but lies stain your body blue
until brown dirt coffins your bones.
Son, I’ve been living gray shadows,
but tomorrow is bright yellow with sun.
Don’t be stuck where midnight owns
the valley… tie your shoelaces and run.
©Susie Clevenger 2019
Love the last line! It feels like an escape from the dull grey of the city and out in the wild. I was 'struck' by the "lies stain your body blue' because it is the black that fades to yellow until the body is sound once again. There is a sense of the underground as well, digging for coal but finding bones. It's almost as if you don't leave there will be nothing left of you remaining, so best get those shoes on!
ReplyDeleteI love the whie wing hope the son would see a better day......the father living grey shadows, but seeing the sun for his child. As we parents tend to do.
ReplyDeleteLovely! Happy Sunday Susie
ReplyDeleteMuch❤🌷❤love
Wise words from Dad. More dads in this world need to encourage the running. Moms too.
ReplyDelete(BTW, speaking of words, did you feel the change from "expecting women, or ladies" to "pregnant females?" I'm seeing and hearing this on TV.
Thank you Susie, I appreciate those times you have come to leave comments even though I might not respond. My Sabbatical is over this week, I'd better improve. I will report on my leave, just have to make it fit into here.
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In some circumstances, running is the best thing to do, especially if staying put (In a coal mine, for instance) means death.
ReplyDeleteIt dances into the heart like a song, squeezing while it teaches, never forgetting the ugly... but also remembering that there is hope.
ReplyDeleteA lot of parenting revolves around the hope that somehow you gain just enough knowledge to impart to your children so that their lives can be some measure of better.
ReplyDeleteIn spite of the pain in this, there is hope. I love the last line.
ReplyDeleteWhat an exquisite write. in its sadness, it contains hope. Lovely.
ReplyDelete"tie your shoelaces and run" indeed! Great poem!
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ReplyDeletelovely write!!!
Wonderful song – and your words, recreating it with colours, are even more wonderful.
ReplyDeleteWhat a magnificent poem - it flowed so easily and created such a big story to think about
ReplyDeleteFascinating, as I am in the midst of researching my paternal Grandfather's history. He was a coal miner in Illinois in the late 1890s.
ReplyDeleteOh I love the thoughts in the last line... sometimes leaving is the best thing
ReplyDeleteOh I so love this Susie! Your imagery is stunning! I don't think I have been on this site before--
ReplyDeleteI am a big fan of horror genre!and this poem is a scrumptious treat for me!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI love the intergenerational lift - each guiding the next toward something better that might have been just out of reach for the last. And the hope and urgency to RUN and perhaps make a bigger leap toward that something better. Wonderful read!
ReplyDeleteI love this Susie - brilliant write. Perfect.
ReplyDeleteAnna :o]
This is absolutely phenomenal, Susie!!❤️ Words so powerful they deserve to be sung.. again and again.
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