“Mountains and Skyscrapers” — A Poem for West Virginia and Philadelphia

For many years I’ve written poetry— some of you have seen it, and some have not. Recently, I began jotting down a few lines I’d been conceptualizing on for some time and I wanted to share them with you all.

This poem, “Mountains and Skyscrapers”, has existed in many forms and has changed over the years. The result, to my surprise, is a relatively short poem that simply describes how it felt to leave West Virginia for Philadelphia, and how coming home still always feels like exactly that— home. Enjoy, xx.

“Mountains and Skyscrapers”

By Miranda Martin, 2020

Mountain, proud and turned to stone

By some hollow witch’s groan

Or perhaps a faerie’s kiss

Mountains, spurring untold bliss 

West Virginia wild flowers

By the highway, tall as towers

Giving way to concrete kingdoms

On I-64, she chased her freedom 

Skyscrapers, cold and turned to glass

By some moneymaker’s crass

Words of wisdom, a checkbook signed 

Skyscrapers, steel, metallic lines 

The Liberty Bell let freedom ring

Through her ears, the fancy things 

But something in her blood still boiled

Toward the mountains, she recoiled 

Mountain, proud and turned to stone

“Appalachia lives in my bones.”