Clade Song 15

Appalachian

To speak in Appalachian
you must slide your tongue
over syllables, swallowing the hard sounds.
You must sing the old songs stretching
the vowels with regret.
To know Appalachia is to remember
the white river that fell to the valley
the rain made, the wind wrecked.,
the doe on the rack, cut and drained,
bones thrown to the dogs

To speak of Appalachia
is to honor the men who entered the earth
and returned with darkness clinging to them
because the very air they breathed was darkness
the pores of their skin was darkness
and darkness filled their eyes
as they sat and rocked on the broken porches
of their lives, leaning over the edge and spitting
into darkness and wiping their mouths
with dark hands

Michael Simms is a poet, novelist and publisher. His most recent collection of poems are Strange Meadowlark and Jubal Rising (Ragged Sky: 2024, 2025). His poems have been published in Poetry (Chicago), Plume, Poem-a-Day/Academy of American Poets, and Scientific American. His most recent novels are The Blessed Isle and The Hummingbird War (Madville: 2025, 2026). He is the Founding Editor of Vox Populi, a daily gazette of poetry, politics and nature with over 20,000 subscribers, as well as the Founding Editor Emeritus of Autumn House Press (1998-2016). Originally from Texas, since 1987, he has lived in the historic Mount Washington neighborhood overlooking the three rivers of Pittsburgh. In 2011, the Pennsylvania Legislature awarded Simms a Certificate of Recognition for his service to the arts.