Section II: Death takes evermore life from growth

Editor’s Note:

This section portrays vividly the crisis that we flash on when we hear the words “Rust Belt.” Here are the empty streets and empty bellies.  Here is a tour with photos from city to city with memory never far.  Here are horrors of an economy driven by planning for a nuclear war. The works avoid pity and the gutter of endless drink while reminding of what was lost and how low we are. This is the bulk of the issue because remembering the crimes may bring justice. There are a wealth of blogs, sites and programs about Rust Belt literature and many more about specific areas and problems, to which many of the artists here also contribute.  Here stories, poems, photos and songs recall the realities of decline, collapse and abandonment.