“Almost Heaven West Virginia. . . Country roads take me home to the place I belong.”
–John Denver (Country Roads)
We are all hillbillies they say.
We have no front teeth.
I have always been
living in the mountains nooks and cranny’s
seeing the stars peek their eyes on a Saturday evening
glistening toward the smiling moon.
We are all spitting country folk they say.
We have no cleanliness they say.
I have spent my whole life
enthralled by the autumn leaves
spreading in and out of the hills
their red yellow arms fluttering to the ground.
We are all rednecks they say.
We have married our cousins they say.
After high school, I was
prepared to leave
the olden rocky pieces
of a broken dreamy river.
Everyone’s always leavin’
The mountains are always callin’.
We will come a followin’.