Verandah Porche
Poet
Vermont
E-mail: verandah@sover.net

Rob Knell and Mike Austin

Millennium Artist Verandah Porche's dedication to her craft and working with communities is evident in her own words: "I believe that poetry should have a communal mission as well as an individual one. I want my work to show people how connected they are as well as how unique." Above, Rob Knell and Mike Austin. Photos by Bill Hackwell. All rights reserved.

Power in Your Hands: New Hampshire Electrical Cooperative (by Verandah Porche)

Eye to eye with a camera, Newporters tend to be gun-shy. When Bill Hackwell, Patryc Wiggins and I pulled into the NHEC driveway in August, these guys were ready to rock and roll: shinny up a telephone pole to pose like the old timers in the early calendars or flaunt their trucks and buckets like kids. Energy, solidarity, and pride in their tradition radiate from them. Inspired, I wrote this poem, slicing lines from NHEC narratives with my own.

Starting in 1939, they built lines to all the outlying
towns and farms
They'd go the shortest way right through the
woods. They used horses to drag the poles
into position and other than that, it was
a lot of manpower. I know people who said,
"I used to take my horse and help do that."

August a gust of ease--
sweat under hard hats.
Days take ages to get dark.

What are the skills here?
You have to be ready to climb.
You have to be mechanically-minded,
and pretty much ambidextrous.
If you can't reach with your right hand,
you have to reach with the left.
You need in-depth knowledge
of how electricity works.
You need book learning
and on the job training...

You're working on energized lines,
with buddies, watching for shocks and shakes.
Ice is a war zone,
with trees and limbs
breaking off
You rely on that back
and forth:
You grit your teeth
and hope for the best
against disaster.
By the way, you're
kind of a family.

Stay tight, keep close.