This week’s poem comes from the beautiful book, Crows in Eden, by Todd Hearon. Todd is a native of western North Carolina, and this collection of poems is placed in Eden, a small town in the Great Copper Basin of southeast Tennessee. A century ago, an African-American community was forced out of Eden after the lynching of three young Black men. Hearon’s poems are deeply-felt explorations of that particular time and place, and of the lives of both the victims and the perpetrators. This short poem essentially only 6 lines and an epigraph, is one of my favorite from the collection.
Epitaph
By his own hand to be engraved on copperplate and planted at
The edge of town under the sign that reads EDEN POP. 353
When this grave has eaten us alive
and slugs have blown the marrow from our souls
think not Wildflower Pilgrim as you drive
past this blot we were not particles
of the scene you seek its promise and its poor
mortal glory mirroring your own We were
You can read more samples from Crows in Eden and order a copy directly from Salmon Poetry by clicking here.
In other news… Head over to Americana Highways to listen to Tiffany Williams’ new single All Those Days of Drinking Dust. This song is the first to be released from her forthcoming album which will be available August 19th. Anuradha Bhowmik’s debut collection Brown Girl Chromatography is available now for pre-order from University of Pittsburgh Press. And for your immediate reading pleasure, check out Off the Coast to read Joel Ferdon’s poem Southwest, Southeast, and Rattle for Jeff Hardin’s poem At Least Something.
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Denton Loving 