TRAIN TRAVEL SUITE
four movements

The telephone poles

Have been holding their
Arms out
A long time now
To birds
That will not
Settle there
But pass with
Strange cawings
Westward to
Where dark trees
Gather about a
Water hole this
Is Kansas the
Mountains start here
Just behind
The closed eyes
Of a farmer’s
Sons asleep
In their work clothes

   Donald Jistice

  Carl Sandburg

The railroad track is miles away,  

And the day is loud with voices speaking,  
Yet there isn’t a train goes by all day  
But I hear its whistle shrieking.

All night there isn’t a train goes by,  
Though the night is still for sleep and dreaming,  
But I see its cinders red on the sky,  
And hear its engine steaming.

My heart is warm with the friends I make,  
And better friends I’ll not be knowing;  
Yet there isn’t a train I wouldn’t take,  
No matter where it’s going.

      Edna St. Vincent Millay

The telephone poles
Have been holding their
Arms out
A long time now
To birds
That will not
Settle there
But pass with
Strange cawings
Westward to
Where dark trees
Gather about a
Water hole this
Is Kansas the
Mountains start here
Just behind
The closed eyes
Of a farmer’s
Sons asleep
In their work clothes

   Donald Jistice