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Valleys dammed
steep slopes logged,
coal gouged out
and trucked away.
It looks like a sound
return on investment
with no other
price to pay.
Until the rains come
and the dammed up
impoundments
give way.
A raging wall
of water, rocks
and trees flattens
everything in its path.
Houses gone, roads
bridges. Those who
fled in fear come back
to a grim aftermath
In flaying a mountain
to smoke the heart,
the whole is sacrificed
to the part.
There is no way
to reckon the loss
without tracing
addiction's cost.
p.j. laska
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