Listening to the Train

reminds me that i’m human.
industrial sounds in nature’s air
is like breathing,
back and forth, in and out
like letters, like sex
like discovery.

listening to the train
reminds me of my childhood.
my knuckles were white at the thought
of the scorpions under my bed.
and all those fears subsided with the lushness of it
rolling past my house every night i tried to sleep,
whispering, "hush, my little insomniac,
no use letting them keep you awake"
those scorpions are sugar-ants compared
to what has yet to arrive

listening to the train
reminds me of wonder.
where are they going, who are they going to see
are they running to or away from
something scary, intense or magnetic.
i picture myself on it,
drinking a bloody mary with headphones on
enjoying the flavor and sound of transition
maybe writing a letter or contemplating a sexual encounter.
maybe on the trail of self-discovery.

written on March 28, 2008