Sunday, September 18, 2011

The Tracks


The clicks of steel
Arouses a sedentary lustfulness,
Bearing weights- in rivet’s touch

Of nervousness, a call is made, for
Wiled distilleries- enough the rouge,
To serve as distraction’s chalice

Filled fluidly, rippling as the stones
Kick into the metal shell, elongating
At rapid speeds, in an effort to eclipse

Gravity, paired to momentum’s
Shift, an unstoppable, yet stringent path
Aimed to connect visions starts and ends

With the focal points behind the gales,
Invoking the aria of banshee’s scorn,
Are the many cites observed in flashing form

Metallic, in full fathom’s force, five
Stops left, before fingers flinch upon
The golden knob outside remorse-filled doors

Of inertia, and its many shields,
Contracted to keep safe
The fragmented and the whole

Many years left aside, those days
Before a seeker’s life enslaved
The persistence of a need for truth

That since such time has shrouded all visions clear.
And now that knowledge has been found,
The tracks are ending too.  Soon

The alchemy of the allegorical,
A pointedness that steered my course,
Shall cease as well, where soon shall come

The coda to this song, one that saw clues unturned,
Inquisitions lost and earned, pieces puzzled click to click,
Smokescreens billowed, yet somehow eyes kept track

Of all the honor in this quest, instead of answers found-
Unanticipated closure transformed, all and each-
Of my detailed notes useless, now

I ride this train from start to end, engulf the breadth of all and more,
Satisfy those unanswered words, by knowing that-
A few cars back, resides, the grail I so long sought for.

Beside the knick-knacks of upheaving roots, where new life starts
And promise soothes the distance dull, families dream of the possibilities that they hope’s in-store, rests a box of pine

That’s 84 inches long and 28 inches wide, dimensions that
Within hold the secrets of my life.  Stones spray less violently
As the steam horn hints, the tracks are about to end.


A little bit late to the party as seems to be the case with a lot of things these days, but when I read Claudia's prompt for D'Verse Saturday Poetics Link up, and then read her poem over at her site, I knew I had to come up with something, as Trains, and all they represent both historically, as a means for connecting place to place, people to people, or as the part they played in the expansion of culture and geography as well as what they mean symbolically.  So I thought about it, let a couple ideas stew a bit and came up with what you just read.

I definitely recommend anyone and everyone to go and check D'verse out and all the wonderful poets that post their work there- it's truly a bright spot for the poetic community where you'll certainly find many new poets to follow and a whole bunch of great reads.



8 comments:

  1. oh i enjoyed the train stew you brewed up for us fred...and there's lots of healthy vegetable and good thoughts in your verse..

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  2. Boy, I did feel that abrupt end coming with the last line. I enjoyed how many interesting pieces there were to this poetry puzzle. I will have to go back and put them all together :)

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  3. dont the tracks always end too soon...that 84 inch box awaits us all, the grail just out of reach as we often look in all the wrong places...

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  4. You had me literally riveted at the second stanza, and then drew me in further and further--into the journey, the quest, and the pine box grail. I could quote many lines here, but especially the 10th and 12th and final stanzas stay with me. Fine fine writing.

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  5. This is fabulous-- you have a wonderful sense of lyrical language and deploy it very well-- I think you need clicks of steel arouse... as verb goes back to clicks-- thanks for posting this! xxxj

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  6. Great take on the trains as you make tracks with your piece, follow the tracks of life and the road not taken or could be taken whether the car you choose to board. You did a terrific job of realting this to life's cycle right down to the pine box, although I'll still take a pringle can..haha

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  7. most journeys start with excited anticipation but many paths can be taken ...like the one you took with this thank you x

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  8. I'm really glad so many enjoyed this write. I loved the topic and actually really liked this piece a lot after I wrote it, you know I'm sure we all like what we write but I write a lot and some I like, others I'm like oh, that's alright or it'll do but then once in a while you write something that you really like- this is one of those, so it is nice to see you all enjoyed it. Thanks a lot, I really appreciate it

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