And the outsider wonders what kind of life is their mademove figures --
the women scuttle with arms folded just over the waist,
the men loll, standing up straight; they do not spit while the politician
pounds the Bible
but resume chewing when he comes off the namdstand, his business suit among
their overalls.
Their kids are brash in strange places
the poorest beg for pennies and make sure they get to movies
and don't learn to want what they can't have.
Some women never write to "the fathers of their children"
and some don't lose their teeth
and some get the color of an old tree, looking old enough so they will
never age.
They've got personal names and mouthings of names of places that make
surveyed maps crawl with gossip and sniggered laughter
Craws Nest, Aykay, Foot Scratch, Stinking Creek, Hogg and Pigg and Bacons,
Boone Run
have even the leveled places in a road or valley named for a pioneer or an
inconsequent murder
that they talk quietly, not to an outsider.
No comments:
Post a Comment