The Steel City
They still call Pittsburgh
The Steel City.
Pittsburgh, the city that produced
Steel for over a hundred years.
In mills my family worked in.
In mills that lined the three rivers
And polluted the air.
In mills that have been razed
After being picked clean of anything of value.
In mills that are now malls and parking lots.
In mills that have completely disappeared.
They still call Pittsburgh
The Steel City,
Even though the last mill there
Closed over thirty-six years ago.
I think it is time to give
Pittsburgh a new nickname,
A new tag-line.
How about, “Pittsburgh,
The Terrible Towel City,
The city that turned mills into malls”.
What do you think?
But, Pittsburgh,
The Steel City?
That no longer applies.
Roy W. Backes
© 2021
Roy W. Backes - Poetry 