I Try to Remain Unconscious
An ode to coal miners serving their country - Godspeed.
I try to remain unconscious
In West Virginia, graves are for the dead but they are also for the living.
They come as soot
Covered thick as lies sold to their soul
They brush it off
These are the lessons taught
Coal and Jesus.
"Hearts of hallelujah, we are saved!"
Coal and Jesus.
The first pays the bills
The second claims the glory
"They don't know no better. They only know the mine."
At the swing of their pickaxe
Slice my own throat wide open
So I no longer bear witness
Them slowly picking away at their own
Let blood drain to crimson pools from my porcelain neck
Not so different from black shadows shaping within his lungs
Let all my blood run
Spangle the stars of the flag with dollar signs
Strip the stripes and bare the chains confining the working class
I do not want to remain unconscious
I will not let my country bury me.
About the Creator
Alexis Carpenter
A Sociology major from Colorado University at Boulder, Alexis Carpenter writes to better understand her own personal thoughts and opinions on issues that matter to her, and with hope, to the greater community.
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