Steel Town USA

Everything in my town is steel.

Pulled steel, welded from steel, built from steel.

Even the people.

In my town we rise early and go to bed late. People work hard, and the work is hard. But we don’t want it any other way. We live with our work. It is set against our hillsides like metal mountains. Stacks bigger than our city and we pray it grows bigger. It puts food on our tables.

We are prideful, producing people.

We decorate our porches for every holiday. With twinkle lights for Christmas. There is not a person in this town that doesn’t know someone I know, and they will know you too. That’s just how they are.

There are flower baskets hanging from every corner. The streets here are cleaned, but if you wipe your finger down the buildings they are not.

There is a black soot that lays like a protectant on their faces. It gets cold here. When it snows we joke and say that we are northerners. We are not.

The cars are more than likely to slide on the icy hills because tires are expensive. If you are here, get a truck. With 4x4.