"Steel City" as seen in The Pittsburgher

https://www.thepgher.com/post/steel-city

"Steel City"

A poem by Cara Reinard

Strong hands were mightier than the pen
In the steel city that would never die
Immigrants came from around the world
to wield molten metal infused with scrap steel
Grandfather was lucky to get a spot on the night shift
Vietnam vets who made it home lined up too
Opportunity was only one forged crank away
Work ethic smeared on blue collars
Stains that spanned generations
Undershirts with yellowed pits. Nicotine rings
Sunday dinners at Nonas
Garlic and wine and hard work squeezed through a press
Three cloves. Four? Never enough
Tongues singed with acid from homegrown tomatoes
Say a prayer before you eat
Thank God for all your blessings
Tell a tale about the depression
You are lucky, as you sit at the long table; tattered plastic tablecloths
You are lucky, as you elbow your cousin; he talks too much
Sunday is so loud with love it hurts your ears
to remember how much you miss the sound
Marry someone who can garden, Nona says
Marry someone who works with his hands, Nono says
Worth Measured in utility, utility measured in sweat
The women do the dishes. The men drink and smoke and play cards:
Poker. 500 Rummy. Everyone loses their nickels
Go to school, they say. This is all for you, Kids
They knew it wouldn’t last forever
A hometown lost to abandoned warehouses now—rehabbed apartments
Brown sodden riverbanks—made green with big banks and hospital systems
Broken glass that once housed mighty machines
Strong men now old and broken
Industry shifted overseas
Andrew Carnegie’s dream lost to
An international revolution
But the values they passed down remain as strong as the steel they once poured
Live in the apartments, they say
Work on the green grass, they say
It’s why we came

Cara Reinard is an author of domestic suspense, including Sweet Water (Thomas & Mercer), a novel based in Sewickley that reached the Amazon bestseller list in December. Her forthcoming novel, Into the Sound (Thomas & Mercer) will be released in December. Cara resides in North Pittsburgh with her husband, two children and Bernese mountain dog and is currently pursuing her MFA at Lindenwood University.