“THE CHORUS OF COAL-MINERS”
[The words of the chorus echo, as if they are crawling from a hole so deep the idea of depth loses all coherency. Here is the Underworld Of All Things, terrorformed by the mangled hands of those frozen in childhood by a thick film of soot and ash. The Chorus Of The Coal-Miners sings to each other, speaking echoes to the endless, endless dark, for no traveler will ever hear them.]
where are you
brother
sister
sibling
i am here
i hear
i am
hear you
i am
here
once we were children
once were we children
once we were suffocated to life in a blanket of black dust
once upon a time
(i cant i dont)
an elsewhere and an elsewhen
(no else nothing else neverwhere and neverwhen,
nothing but a coldly Dark)
Once there was sunlight and once there was
A mineshaft that swallowed us whole,
from womb to open throat
i know there was a cradle and there was warmth,
i remember the swaddle of blankets
a bed of soft and not of rock
once there was
Persephone Erin Hudson
Persephone Erin Hudson is a multimedia weird-fiction/horror author, performer, and girl-himbo auteur. She is the author of the theater/poetry anthology "Bird Brains Puts The Dog To Sleep, & Other Memories", as well as the serialized prosetry horror-farce "Deerly Beloved", both available as digital books on Gumroad.
May the children escape into the warm sun, and the Overseers' suffocate in their collapsed mine-shafts.
Author pic is from "Shipwreck" by Warren Ellis, Phil Hester, and Eric Gapstur.
Twitter: @plaguing_possum