Why is there no battlefield memorial
here, where generations of workers
ground down their lives?
Why no place for the veterans to return,
pride mingling with grief,
clutching made-in-China flags
& mumbling about sacrifice?
Why doesn’t the county historical society
raise money to preserve this site just as it was,
before the pink slips came—
a mass unmanning—
& the great steel taskmasters were unbolted
from the shop floor & sold for scrap?
Why doesn’t anyone except us trespassers,
sneaking in like the weeds & sparrows,
want to remember which parts
were assembled here
& where they fit?
OTHER POSTS IN THE SERIES
- Poem for Display in a City Bus
- Poem for Display in a Subway Car
- Poem for Display at a City Reservoir
- Poem for Display in a Veterans’ Memorial Park
- Poem for Display in a Public Library
- Poem for Display in a Hospital Waiting Room
- Poem for Display in a Municipal Building
- Poem for Display in an Abandoned Factory
- Poem for Display in an Inaccessible Location
- Poem for Display at a Police Checkpoint
- Poem for Display Above the Urinals in a Men’s Restroom
- Poem for Display in a Vacant Lot
- Poem for Display in a Shopping Mall Food Court
- Poem for Display in a Housing Project
There’s always something tragic about the relics of lost industries.
“a mass unmanning” — perfect.
Having grown up in the “Rust Belt” I always thought there was a certain beauty to closed factories….
Thanks for the comments. Yeah, I agree, closed factories can be quite attractive — like all ruins, really.
oh yes. my feeling exactly, every time I snap pictures of the crumbling tanneries over here. I think I’m going to start matching them up with the pictures of the mangled old men and women who worked in them and now wander through the streets for hours on end. Nowhere to go, nothing to do.
Thanks for this poem, dave.
Thanks for stopping by. That sounds as if it would make a very interesting photo documentary project, if the retired workers are willing.
Have you seen the book, Images of the Rust Belt by James Jeffrey Higgins? It’s a great book that really shows the beauty of the Rust Belt. Also, when I looked at Higgins’ homepage, I found out that he has a new book out titled On Common Ground — which is about “vanishing farms”. I guess I will have to add that book to my “to get list”.
No, I haven’t seen that. If the sample photos are any indication, he has a good mix of subjects. I loved Weirton Steel at Sunrise.
The old company towns of Pennsylvania and the surrounding states may never have been exactly beautiful, but I’d sure as hell rather look at a few hills covered with row houses – complete with actual stores and sidewalks – than every hill colonized by sprawling subdivisions.
the opening lines of this should be famous, this is a poem like the ones of neruda’s that all the workers (even the illiterate) in chile knew by heart, and were not embarrassed to recite in public. thank you for this.
Thanks for the very flattering comment! I’m glad you like the poem.