Sunday, May 27, 2012

Bound for Glory




Bound for Glory

this train of black boxcars
     raining
this rain on the too thin roof
this black boxcar blue
this graffiti blue
this hue of spray-can
this spray-can’t
     sign of times
this sign of signing
     this singing     this song
  along the rails     this wailing
of a failing America
(or is this how it works?)
this boxcar with my name on it
this train of our names
this signing
this signature
this bounced check
this stacked deck
this black cloud thunder
     under
this trestle as long as a life
this train
            this ride
                       this other side


~ Ralph Murre

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ralph, I always love reading your poetry, especially when you use words the way you did in this poem, the rhythm, the rhyme. And how the title asks a question, really, compared to what the poem says. You are so clever! Nice one! Thanks for sharing it.

Kris Thacher said...

Your words are just precise enough and the visions just wide enough to take us somewhere we haven't imagined on the train, on this Decoration Day.

Jeffrey Winke said...

Ralph --

You've written a chant for the new normal AND the illustrations are demonically delightful!

Angela Consolo Mankiewicz said...

Liked this, very much, Ralph - on any day.