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      August 6, 2019Harlan County, USA (2019)” by Pauletta HanselPauletta Hansel

      Maybe it is a revelation to you,
      but miners know how to stop a train.
      Maybe you think that love of coal
      means love of the company.
      Let me tell you what we love
      about coal.
      It’s the paycheck.
      The one we don’t have.
      It’s the food
      that’s not on the table,
      the new backpack
      that won’t be on his back,
      my boy’s first day of school.
      The doctor his granny
      won’t be seeing for her heart.
      Remember, we’re used to the dark.
      We can see inside your pockets
      lined from the coal we dug for free.
      We can see the car on the track
      filled up from the mine
      you pulled us out of.
      As long as it’s sitting there,
      our hard work inside it,
      we’ll be sitting here.

      from Poets Respond

      Pauletta Hansel

      “Some phrases are from ‘No pay, we stay; Protesting miners in Harlan County are not going anywhere.’ The mine from which the coal is blocked from leaving belongs to Revelation Energy LLC, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on July 1st along with its affiliate Blackjewel LLC; its last paycheck to the miners for the coal they dug bounced. Though the poem is addressed to the company, this action has given me hope—a revelation of sorts—that even in so-called ‘Trump Country,’ the spirit of Appalachia activism has not died.”

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