Impspired Title

Trona Ash

by Nile Coy

n preparation for the publication of this collection of poetry, I provided a copy to my trusted friend James for review. He asked me, “So I have to ask, what exactly is ‘Trona Ash’? What does it mean?” and I suppose an explanation is in order. “Trona Ash” is, in fact, not a thing. Trona is a mineral that is the base ingredient in baking soda and is used in the manufacture of many detergents and cleaning products. The largest remaining deposits known to humanity sit beneath the ground in southwestern Wyoming. “Soda ash” is the term used to describe the raw, unrefined mineral that comes out of the ground. It’s grey, mildly caustic, itchy, and seems to stick to everything that comes near it. So “Trona Ash” is a marriage of the refined and the unrefined; the desirable and the unavoidable; the agent of cleanliness and the residue that works its way into every nook and cranny you’ll never fully clean. Because ultimately, they are the same thing, as is often the case.