Explore the writings of Allison Thorpe
Kentucky State Poetry Society
2nd Place: Allison Thorpe “The Women of Appalachia”
“The Women of Appalachia” moved like a creek and proved to be a sonic masterpiece from the “sing like the hills on fire.” The poem’s capacity to both lift up and carry an authentic Appalachian cultural motif fully invested in the land and the people all the way through with fresh and original images was impressive. What a beautiful poem.
– Frank X. Walker
2nd Place: Allison Thorpe “The Women of Appalachia”
“The Women of Appalachia” moved like a creek and proved to be a sonic masterpiece from the “sing like the hills on fire.” The poem’s capacity to both lift up and carry an authentic Appalachian cultural motif fully invested in the land and the people all the way through with fresh and original images was impressive. What a beautiful poem.
– Frank X. Walker
The Women of Appalachia
Sing like hills on fire
The incandescent torch and singe-smoldered notes
Of maple, sumac, persimmon, sassafras
They sing the rush and ripple
That crisp-cold rides every creek
The strum of water over boulder
They sing the gospel of bluebells
Returning to the dew-dusty fields
Faith of moss and earthworm
They sing rhythms ribbed
Of washboard and limestone-callused fingertips
Linens bleaching the landscape
They sing like garden wind chimes
Deep-gonged harmony of beans and squash
Breeze-jangled gossip among the tomatoes
They sing the protest of mountain tops
Fallen to metal claws ripping and ripping
The earth’s dazzled dress
They sing an anthem for the soot-haloed bodies
Men married to the dark seams of coal
Their sun-craved prayers
They sing the slogged trudge
Of the captured, the kidnapped, the seekers
Ancestors laboring the jagged mountains
They sing their hands and hearts
The inky pages, vine-twisted baskets, rainbow quiltings
They sing until blood becomes bone
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