Today is Quadrille Monday at d’verse and Kim asked us to write a 44 word poem using the word earth! I chose to write about the way coal miners were treated in the corner of Pennsylvania where I grew up. Tennessee Ernie Ford’s song, 16 Tons, said it all “I loaded 16 tons and I’m deeper in debt. The Check above is one of the reasons.
Digging deep into the earth
Miners sold their bodies and soul
To the coal company of H.C. Frick
Demanding they buy only from his store
Paying with voucher checks instead of cash…
Only redeemable at his Company Store
Slavery of a different // calculated kind
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Roth Poetry 
“You load sixteen tons, what do you get…?” You got it! Nice take on the prompt.
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Thanks Charley!
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That was a kind of slavery.
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Definitely! Thanks Frank
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It is slavery and eternal bondage. I pity those coal miners 😦
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Things are better, but now they take out the coal with huge digging machines that eat up the coal veins in no time at all!
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I remember that song oh so well …. and mining the earth’s resources for a pittance … how we are slaves to it all.
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Thank you so much for reading. I also loved the song.
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Wow – talk about exploitation. Thanks for sharing.
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It makes one stop and think when you see the actual voucher. Thanks!
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Exploitation of more than one kind. Well done.
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Thank you so much for reading.
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I never knew what that song referred to. Sad. There still is so much slavery on this earth.
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Times have changed but it was pretty hard line back then.
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sad. For some, I don’t think times have changed. Very stirring.
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It’s slavery and monopoly. How sad. Thank you for sharing. I remember watching a documentary about corn fields. The farmer had to buy seeds from this big company. One farmer saved the seeds and didn’t buy from the company for one year. His field was on fire and lost everything.
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Very sad! Thanks for reading!
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Sad that some men used the product of the earth to make slaves of other men…good write. I always loved that song, ‘sixteen tons and what do you get, another day older and deeper in debt’
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Yes, it really is sad! Thanks for reading!
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Thank you for this snippet of American history which we don’t usually hear about in the UK. You are filling in the holes of my general knowledge, Dwight. Of course, we have our own history of coal and miners, but it’s interesting to see the similarities and differences.
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Exploitation in the true sense of the word!
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Well written….to the tune of a piece of real history. And oh my…..I am of the generation to remember Tennessee Ernie Ford singing this song….with his deep deep voice!
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Thanks Lillian. He was a wonderful singer!
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a sad reminder of how those miners struggles making others rich
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And many died prematurely of Black Lung disease from the coal dust.
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i had a pen pal when i was in my teens, she was from Pennsylvania , now you say this i recall her mentioning such an event.
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How interesting! This was pretty common back at the turn of the century when steel manufacturing was king.
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Exploitation comes in many forms. A tale well told and worth telling.
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We must remember so we don’t let history repeat itself. Thanks.
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Thank you for sharing this Dwight, even though times have changed it is still worth remembering what these people went through.
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As Bjorn pointed out, some of this is still happening in other countries that manufacture the cheap goods we like to buy.
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A bit of a sad history … penned very well.
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This is in many ways still true for many… remember also when I read Germinal that it was similar in France.
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Yes, it might not be in the mines, but in the sweat shops that sew all the cheap garments we love to buy, never thinking how it is possible that they are so cheaply produced.
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I like the direction you went in for this prompt. Calculating is correct.
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Thanks Sara!
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