13,652. HERE GROWS THE MAN FROM APPALACHIA

HERE GROWS THE MAN 

FROM APPALACHIA

The stunted corn is barely borne, and in

this field of rocks little else will grow;

holding weeds and not tobacco. There

is little they can do. The man from his

Appalachia scampers down his road.

-

'This was Pa's, and Grandad's before;

he was called Peddie by neighbors. The

cabin started out as a shed for the crops,

once, maybe 1874 or '5. Somebody built

it to stay alive, foolishly thinking they

too would thrive.'

-

'This place is harsh, because the land's

too steep  -  that's what the government

people were saying. That was 1945, when

they began tarring some of the roads as

an effort to give poor locals some work.

That's when my Daddy got hurt, though

he managed well, even with that big

limp, for another 30 years.'

-

'Now, me, I'm just tired and sick myself.

They can do what they want and I'm not

moving. First in the 70's, they started 

sending in Vietnamese  -  I went to 

school here with a Tranh and a Huang 

and a Ming. Now lately, these years,

they send in Mexicans and folks from

Central American place like Honduras

or Guatemala. Houses and land too.'

-

'I guess it's the way it goes, though

I'm tired, and don't know what to do.'