First the Ford plant
shut down,
then the steel mills,
the metal factories,
the shipyards.
A year after Pennsylvania
Military College’s colors
are retired
and the cadet corps
disbanded
the 48-year-old billboard,
with letters glowing
like a blast furnace:
WHAT CHESTER MAKES
MAKES CHESTER
had its plug pulled,
girders hauled off
to the scrapyard.