Today's Ethical ELA Host, Jessica Wiley, asks us to write Place Poems today by considering the backstory of a town or a landmark. I read the prompt early this morning and have been brewing ideas all day! I could write about a few fabulous towns that are etched in my memory with powerful native American roots, like Esopus or Kerhonkson; but I am going to write about Stormville, NY, named after the Storm family, where a mountaintop location means endless power failures and snow squalls that close the interstate regularly! While I no longer call it my home, it will always be in my heart.
Supposedly, the Storm brothers settled in 1730
Crops and houses at the base, hunting and fishing
At the top of the fertile mountain
With the population growing slowly.
Enough to open a post office/general store
The only business from 1826 to 1980,
When the interstate cut through the mountain,
A barbed wire encased State Prison came to town.
Then, there were a whole bunch of baby boomers
Willing to homestead at the bottom and even
The top of that snowy mountain at the end of the
Power grid, more home for your dollar they said.
That's when I landed in town, blown away when
Freshly caught deer appeared in front yards,
While endless hikers on the Appalachian Trail,
Traipsed through back yards!
It's known still for its storms that close the
Interstate, epic power outages,
Its flea markets that attract people
From afar, and its rural charm,.
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