Thinking of Frost and the Calabrian Miners Dead in West Virginia
by Rick Campbell
Three roads diverged in a green wood.
They were worn much differently for different purpose.
Mahogany rutted, weeds deep where it curved out of sight.
Mine Road 63 rising gravel gray into sumac and beech.
The river trail passed through dappled sunlight
to disappear in green dark canopy. I knew
as way led away from way that I was unlikely to walk
the road to the Monongah Mine’s dead. I supposed too,
that in days hence I would write and maybe sigh:
I took the road I always take; has it made any difference?
Rick Campbell is a poet and essayist living on Alligator Point, Florida. His collection of essays, Sometimes the Light is forthcoming from Main Street Rag Press in the spring of 2022. His most recent collection of poems is Provenance (Blue Horse Press.) He’s published six other poetry books as well as poems and essays in journals including The Georgia Review, Prairie Schooner, Gargoyle, Fourth River, Kestrel, and the Alabama Literary Review. He teaches in the Sierra Nevada University MFA Program.
