The Buried Coal Miners at Sipesville

             A bewilderment of tunnels
sings the men down
             into looted ballrooms of coal
to shovel themselves into rock,
             to smelt dark shifts
for groceries until water whispers out
             of the many burrows
of its restless territories, travels every path
             beyond its boundaries,
sixty million gallons forgiving nothing,
             silence thick as grease.