A coal poem: Campfires of the Hunters

In the fall of 1990, as the United States prepared for the first Gulf War, I was the editor of a weekly newspaper in Matewan, West Virginia. During the buildup, local leaders decided to organize a “Support the Troops” rally. While they weren’t sure about going to war in the Middle East, no one wanted to repeat the mistakes of the past.

Watching the buildup to the midterm election, it seems like we need to take the same approach to the “war on coal”. Most of the political ads tell us that regulations against coal are an attack on coal miners. There are those who suggest anything but blind allegiance to the coal industry is the equivalent of treason. Sorry to say, but it isn’t that simple.

In August, I wrote about a political staffer attacking West Virginia poet Crystal Good calling her a “poverty profiteer”. (You can read that column here.) A few days later another West Virginia poet, Kirk Judd from Morgantown, sent me one of his poems. It’s a great demonstration that the issue is much more complex than 30 second political ads want to make it.

The Campfires of the Hunters

(The economics of controlled harvesting)

By Kirk Judd

At night,

The deer move out off the ridge to graze.

One of the older does raises her graying head to gaze

With silently accepting eyes

Far down the mountain at the blaze

Of the campfires of the hunters.

Tomorrow, they will kill her for food.

They’ll need the meat.

The winter will be long, and cold

And the high cost of fuel for heat

Will cut into the food budget.

The doe does not own the land on which she is killed.

The hunters do not own the land on which they kill her.

The State owns the land.

The State regulates the hunters

And they’ve purchased licenses to avoid fines.

When they’ve finished their hunt,

They’ll return to their homes

And their jobs in the mines.

They mine the coal from under the land.

They do not own the coal they mine.

The Coal Company they work for

Does not own the coal they mine.

The Bank owns the coal.

The State sells the mineral rights of the land to the Bank.

The Bank leases the mining rights to the coal to the Coal Company.

The Coal Company mines the coal, and sells it to the Power Company.

The Power Company burns the coal

And produces fuel to run the mines

And to heat the homes of the miners.

The Bank owns a controlling interest in the Power Company.

Now the fuel bills will be so high

Because the Power Company was granted a rate increase.

By the State,

Which sells the rights to the Bank

Which leases those rights to the Coal Company

Which sells the coal to the Power Company

Which is controlled by the Bank and regulated by the State.

The Power Company sells power

To the State, to the Bank, to the Coal Company,

And to the miners.

At morning, the miners come yawning from the shaft,

Dark, minstrel faces

With eyes that have seen

The hunters’ fires.