STRIP MINE
Norfolk-Southern is carrying coal
to feed air conditioners and Las Vegas lights.
The hills, pierced by augers, bleed onto belts,
drip onto trains. Spoil tumbles down the slopes,
oil rainbows paint the stream.
In bull dozed layers, soil bandages the cuts. Replanted
in rye and Scotch pine, smoothed land has no tiny caves
or moss forests. The red eft cannot return. Kudzu
and poison ivy trellis trees, hides the sign declaring
the site reclaimed.
Rain knifes the red clay
