“The Abandoned Cotton Gin” by Christopher Nielsen


Workers’ voices carry
black and white newsreel plays
machinery echoes
apparitions of
booming days gone by
when the gin
flowed cotton
in one end
out the other
ginned, compressed, sampled
wrapped and baled
ready for the mill.

Flash forward
present day
fences un-mended
folks abandoned upended
come and go
seeking shelter
empty buildings
forlorn desolation
abundant graffiti
metal arced skeleton
corrugated shell
other voices yell
then trail off
disappearing
in dusty winds. 


Christopher Nielsen is a writer and photographer. Traveling the many back roads has provided a wealth of inspiration out in nature. Working on book of Photo-Poetry.