Hear in Appalachia
By Rev. Brad Davis
I so wish Mamaw and Papaw
was here to hear
this nonsense
come out your mouth
I wish they was here
so they could tell you
Tell you bout Uncle Bobby,
bout how the dragline
came and he went
On up to Detroit
Or your cousin and his family
up at the head of Smith Fork
Driven out the holler by
a mechanized monster
So he put em in the car and drove
On up to Cleveland
And how when they got
to them far off places
they never felt so far off
From home
From family
From place
From self
Bout how the locals glared
cause they “came to take their jobs”
“Go home ya dumb hillbillies”
“You ain’t welcome here”
“Ya don’t look, talk, or act like us”
“Backward. Shoeless. Toothless”
“Go back where you came from”
Wasn’t nuthin to go back to though
‘cept home
I wish they was here
I wish you could hear