Human Nature

by M. Jay Kardon

How do I tell you…

I read poems in a
patch house, Vesta 6,
poems that celebrate
nature read in a house
where years ago
Yellow Dogs spied
from atop horses*
__*God’s gracious
into windows set at
just the right height for it

—What horrible histories
some houses can have—

But what wonderful poems
I read there so
useless to men
(they were all men)
who had dared to assemble
to plot—plot!—how to
feed their families on
the wages they got for
extracting from nature
its bituminous coal

and were beaten
and made homeless
for the pleasure of it

M. Jay Kardon moved to Pittsburgh from New York 4 years ago. He has developed a keen interest in the history of coal mining and miners in Southwestern Pennsylvania. He spends time in Vesta 6, a patch of coal miners’ homes in Denbo, 40 miles south of Pittsburgh.

City of Asylum believes that All Pittsburghers are Poets. With the Poem of the Week series, we seek to increase the readership and appreciation of poetry locally by publishing poems written by residents of Allegheny County of all ages and levels of experience. In partnership with the Poetry Editors at Sampsonia Way Magazine, City of Asylum advances our mission to defend, celebrate, and build on creative freedom of expression. This project received a RADical ImPAct Grant from RAD (Allegheny Regional Asset District).