Tonight I spoke about publishing poems for a Zoom meeting sponsored by the Palmerton Library. As part of the program I read a number of my poems, including one entitled “Delaware Avenue, Palmerton,” which actually mentions the library.
For those of you who don’t know me, I should explain that I graduated from Palmerton High in 1960, lived for 32 years in California, moved back here in 2002, and was walking down Delaware Avenue, the main street in Palmerton, one winter evening. That’s the background of the poem.
The park looks much the same.
The bank façade’s the same.
It’s the town library now.
The Admin building looks just like it did
When the Zinc was going full steam.
It serves now as the Office for the Aging.
I see the same Blue Mountain
Looming in the moonlight,
Though most trees are gone:
(Cadmium and lead.)
I am still the same as I was in 1960
Walking in the cold down Delaware.
More or less the same.
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