waiting for a train

[WIREMAN]

slice of life......

[saw]

the Marc for Mark
steel wheels that spark
the imagination, hot white
dreams of motion
finding a niche in between
the modern world
and our own sensibility
rumble on, away from
the status quo




dig it, partner

[WIREMAN]

thanks for taking the time to read and respond steve.....

[the mingo]

just found this Mark - glad i didn't miss it entirely - thx for the train shot - i spend some time watching train vids on youtube - for the life of me i don't know why - some are boring as hell but others can lift ya - the express runs - the fast freights - all them steel wheels out there spinning crazy & moving around - just like your poem here -

www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0KspdYh2Uk

[68degrees]

I grew up in a railroad town. The sounds...the cinders....the fires from hot sparks off the tracks on hot summer days. We waved to the conductors all the time. They waved back. I used to sleep on the front porch from April til it snowed. The rail yard was three blocks away. The sounds of the cars coupling at night was awesome. Some the trains were 150 cars long. I still miss that stuff.

Thanks for the nudge in memory.

68degrees

[WIREMAN]

thanks for the awesome replies 68degrees and mingo......hearing that lonesome train horn makes me feel alive.....

[68degrees]

There is an old movie called "The Emperor of the North" with Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine. Old 70's flick. It's about trains and the old hobos who used to ride them. Not sure why I remember this one but I do. If you ever get a chance…it's worth it for the train scenes alone. Wrote this a LONG time alone. Take it for what it's worth:


Emperor of the North (1973

me & lee marvin
the emperor of the north
waiting at rail marker #54

orange & yellow leaves
blowing behind us
like clapping hands

approaching freight train
with its iron gray leader,
lights flashing a distant life

Mad Dog 20/20 hisses
on lee marvin’s breath
like spit on a desert rock

“...got a chance
to be good bum,
kid. But can you be
a meat eater?”

and i’m game & I’m up and
for one brief moment
i am a movie star, a tinsel
vagabond, carrying 14 years
in a knapsack, waiting to feel
all four seasons in a single wind

“...when you get back,
tell everyone your story,
kid. Make ‘em weep”

a fistful of thunder, a cloud of sparrows,
hundreds of black wings but finallly just me

and lee marvin’s distancing voice
stinging in my rail cinder ears

“...you had the juice, kid,
not the heart. Stay off
the train, next time she’ll
throw you under her
steel wheels, for sure”

[WIREMAN]

one of mt all time favorite movies
keith carradine the kid
marvin rules
borgnine a monster actor
u could feel that hammer
there is a power
like no other
when that train pulls in
i used to live behind
old b&0 yards in baltimore
never tired of them horns
now in frederick my morning
starts walkin down patrick st.
waitin for the sound of that
horn....train comin for me....

[saw]

Emperor of the North was a great flick...I remember Lee Marvin was A #1....and he would paint his handle on the water tower to let Shack know he was gonna ride his train....amazing train and hobo movie from a time lost to modernization....