Rock
As the coal train screeches by,
I think of the dust
from which they died,
their oxygen tanks
only a palliative,
their suffocation
normal and expected,
the inherent risk of a
transitory prosperity.
Yesterday, I read
about their sons
and daughters,
crouching in seams
heavier in rock,
suffocating earlier
than expected
from the white dusts.
It’s a scandal to the writer,
romanticizing
about the power of words.
But the screeching trains
still run on schedule,
their ribbons of cars,
mounded with coal.
The power of words
knows no brakeman
as industry lobbyists
refute the
dangers
of
rock.
Under their avalanche.
politicians are broken.
And, in the towns
by the tracks,
funeral directors
draw new business plans.
Len Shindel began working at Bethlehem Steel’s Sparrows Point Plant in 1973, where he was a union activist and elected representative in local unions of the United Steelworkers, frequently publishing newsletters about issues confronting his co-workers. His nonfiction and poetry have been published in the “Other Voices” section of the Baltimore Evening Sun, The Pearl, The Mill Hunk Herald, Pig Iron, Labor Notes and other publications. After leaving Sparrows Point in 2002, Shindel, a father of three and grandfather of seven, began working as a communication specialist for an international union based in Washington, D.C. The International Labor Communications Association frequently rewarded his writing. He retired in 2016. Today he enjoys writing, cross-country skiing, kayaking, hiking, fly-fishing, and fighting for a more peaceful, sustainable and safe world for his grandchildren and their generation. Shindel is currently working on a book about the Garrett County Roads Workers Strike of 1970 www.garrettroadstrike.com.