upstate the world is anthracite,
and if you stand still long enough,
coal country swallows you up in a mine. 

and as you sink into the rock, 
you get to see the world for what it is. 

and you can squint and see the flowers blooming in the ash. 
and you can hold your breath as you fall miles down to nothing and nothing. 

i often think about that eternal fire,
the one so toxic an entire town was evacuated. 
the fire that hasn't gone out,
and maybe never will. 

i stare at the rock too often,
i used to think it would whisper, 
but coal country doesn't offer you anything. 

i want to scream into the cavern of this mine i fell into, 
i want to be the canary,
i want to tell the miners to leave.

mother earth gives and gives,
and we take more and more,
and the mines go deeper, 
and the daylight is too far gone. 

but the coal never stops,
and the fire still burns,
fifty years strong. 

all i can taste is soot, 
all the world is mine.