A Brief History of Wetzel County
- by Bonnie Proudfoot
Here is a hill, a trail,
shale rocks crumble into earth
when I step on them,
canes of multiflora rose tug
my legs, arms, neck, face. Here
fog hugs the valleys,
autumn sun dips behind
the ridgeline before 3:00,
stumps of chestnut trees
are wider than any
living trees, squirrels
hide in oak branches.
Here Lewis Wetzel, born
in 1764 on the South Branch
of the Potomac, resolved
to kill as many Indians
as possible. Here I stumble
over rusted steel pipelines,
find pylons from drilling rigs
and gas wells. Skid roads
from loggers are lined
with mountain blueberries,
tiny, sweet, and tart. Thick vines
of Virginia creeper and poison ivy
dangle from the tree canopy
like broken tightropes.
Here Lewis Wetzel was the first
to volunteer when it came
to hunting down Indians.
Beside the trail, I bend
to scoop up a perfect
flaked slate arrowhead.
Under a blackberry bush
a copperhead watches
and never even flicks
its forked tongue.
Prior Publication: Still: The Journal
Notes about the poem:
“A Brief History of Wetzel County” contains quotes from the “History of Wetzel County, West Virginia,” (italicized sections of the poem are from www.wetzelwv.com/about-wetzel-county).
What Inspires You
During the time of Covid, I had the good fortune to participate in some zoom conversations and readings with other poets, and I posed a question into the chat – did anyone know of any online poetry workshops? It was karma, or maybe just a door that was opening when I was ready to walk through it, but the Cincinnati poet Pauletta Hansel responded that she had begun offering workshops via zoom. Pauletta’s book Coaltown Photograph had recently crossed my path, and I admired the way the book spoke to me on so many levels, including its deep awareness of place, its deep exploration of craft, its voice, and vivid detail. Fast forward three or four years, and I still am a member of Pauletta Hansel’s Draft to Craft poetry sessions, and I have also taken the drive to the Ohio River Biology Field Station, where twice a year poets, essayists, and artists gather for a day of inspiration on the river, called The River Retreat. The instructors are Sherry Cook Stanforth, Richard Hague, and Pauletta Hansel. One November afternoon, in a small classroom whose walls are full of charts of river depths and aquariums in the corners holding exotic Ohio River fish (like the long-snouted Gar), whose windows look out over the river from its Kentucky bank toward Ohio, which sits beside the actual Research Station with tanks in the basement holding turtles and salamanders (including a reclusive freshwater giant salamander called a Hellbender), Pauletta introduced a topic that was based upon her own poetic work researching the many names of the rivers the maternal line of her family had crossed in their centuries-long journey from colonial Williamsburg to the coalfield towns of Kentucky, where she was born and raised. Pauletta’s prompt: Why not research a place, maybe a river, or a set of rivers, or just the history of a place you may know well, then use the names or some of the language you find in your research in composing your poetry? Write some of the language down, take the time to see where it all takes you.
Bio
Bonnie Proudfoot’s fiction, poetry, reviews, and essays have appeared in anthologies and journals, including SWWIM, Gyroscope Review, Rattle, and the New Ohio Review, and have been nominated for Best of the Net and the Pushcart. Her novel Goshen Road (OU Press) received WCONA’s Book of the Year and was long-listed for the PEN/ Hemingway. Household Gods, a poetry chapbook, was released by Sheila-Na-Gig Editions. A full-length poetry collection, Incomer, is forthcoming on Shadelandhouse Modern Press.
Find the Spring 2026 Issue HERE
Previous NPM 2026 poets
| April 1 | Amy Forstadt |
| April 2 | Annette Sisson |
| April 3 | Beth Kanell |
| April 4 | Bonnie Proudfoot |