Penny Wagers
Penny Wagers
Cold, Contrary Country
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Cold, Contrary Country

Magic and enchantment are alive and well, but they were never ours to inhabit.
Photograph © James Hart

Where mountains bear the thunder
That ripples through the pines
The river swelled and I beheld
The wonders and the signs

One night, a blizzard spread
From Luke to Silver Lake
I watched the pearl-complexioned girl
Sow winter in her wake
Her whispers turned my head
The cold had called my name
But once released, I headed east
To where the builders came

They started in the valleys
Then fortified the creek
Their windmill farms stretched out their arms
And tempered every peak
The county ran its tallies
But by the winter, saw
Its plans brought low before the snow
Whose Highlands never thaw

We heard one early morning
That Magic Dave was killed
His father's soul had grown a hole
His family hadn't filled
My uncle always warned me
When walking out alone
Amid the cold, the trees can hold
A madness of their own

In Dolly Sods, the lichen
Obscures in crimson lace
The frozen ground where hunters found
Poor Vanya's frozen face
The country Jacob hiked in
Then disappeared for days
He spooked and fled, the papers said
While others blamed The Leys

Out there, a weather spirit
Might live for just an hour
But once it's birthed above the earth
You'll tremble in its power
When freed, go nowhere near it
It's best you never know
How victims learn that frost can burn
When rising from below

Where mountains bear the thunder
That ripples through the pines
The river swelled and I beheld
The wonders and the signs


Youghiogheny (ˌjɒkɪˈɡeɪni): An Algonquin word meaning “stream that flows in a contrary direction.”

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Penny Wagers
Penny Wagers
Poetry that's actually fun to read. Ambitious essays with audience participation. Where ancient magic meets jokes about Flannery O'Connor's mayonnaise addiction.
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James Hart