SANTA FE
CONTENTS
DOWN BY THE TRACKS
LIFE IN THE COUNTRY
RFD DÉJÀ VU
BURLINGTON-SANTA FE
DOODLEBUG AT NIGHT
DIVORCE
MARRIAGE
ROOTS AND BRANCHES
TRAIN WATCHING
MIDWEST FILM NOIR
SNOWY EMPORIA
_____________________
DOWN BY THE TRACKS
The elm trees down by the—
Burlington-Santa Fe tracks
During the spectral winter
The upper branches trying—
Desperately to reach the sun
Naked, leafless, stark, lonely
At least the elms back in—
Emporia still have the little
College town for company
But out here by the tracks—
& the meandering Cottonwood
What could be more alone?
LIFE IN THE COUNTRY
A part of me stayed behind—
Back there where I was born
In Emporia, Kansas
There must have been a—
Reason, maybe, maybe not
Why I was born back there
Not just because it was a—
Shotgun marriage between
Amy Jane and Marion
But perhaps a part of me—
Knew ahead of time that
This was my RFD home
RFD DÉJÀ VU
Not that I’m like—
Sylvia Plath all caught
Up in Arielesque
I’m more, well, like—
An instinctual poet who
Writes for the moment
Midwestern life for me—
Was surrealistic boyhood
Though now it’s tres noir
Burroughs in Lawrence—
Had the same idea, him
And his cats way out there
BURLINGTON-SANTA FE
Sometimes I just park by—
The side of a railroad crossing
Train-watching as they go by
All those powerful diesels—
Roaring by with their blaring
Loud horns warning everybody
Full of COSCO freight—
And tons of cargo containers
Rumbling to the West Coast
So very different than the—
Dainty little Doodlebug whistle
I heard at night at a kid
DOODLEBUG AT NIGHT
Walter and Jenny lived out—
There on Old Highway 50 all
The way thru the Depression
That’s where I spent my—
Summers growing up as a
Big-eyed naïve grandson
At night sleeping on the—
The cool porch with Jenny
One could hear the Doodlebug
South over the fields next—
To the Santa Fe tracks and
I can still hear the plaintive…
DIVORCE
Amy Jane got sick of the—
Military life when Marion was
Over there in the Korean War
Wars have a way of simply—
Destroying marriages and
Marriages don’t always last
She put me & brother on—
The Doodlebug to Belleville
Where Marion’s parents lived
She ditched us and there—
We were in the middle of
Winter not knowing why
MARRIAGE
They both got remarried—
But they weren’t any better
Than the first lousy ones
Me and my brothers—
Grew up on child support
And a hateful stepfather
The only good thing was—
Emporia took us under its
Wing and protected us
That little Kansas town—
Did the best it could
And Viola here I am
ROOTS AND BRANCHES
Like Robert Duncan—
I followed a lover away
From home to the coast
Seattle so very different—
Than my home back there
In the moody Midwest
But that moodiness stuck—
With me because it was
The way I grew up then
I wanted to live in the lonely—
RFD countryside again where
The Doodlebug called to me
TRAIN WATCHING
Train-watching out there—
By the country roads is
Like a film noir movie
There’s the dark power—
Of the big diesel engines
Roaring along the tracks
There’s the gongs and—
Whistle warnings at all
The railroad crossings
All of this going on with—
Only a few bystanders
Gawking, ogling like me
MIDWEST FILM NOIR
It’s like “Asphalt Jungle”—
That noir classic but reversed
Out there in the countryside
There’s no Marilyn Monroe—
Or Sterling Hayden or suave
But doomed Louis Calhern
There’s just the tres strange—
Quiet of the prairie night
That’s always been there
And then comes the nice—
Break in the moody noir
As a loud train comes by
SNOWY EMPORIA
Another film noir classic—
This nostalgic drive through
Snowy little Emporia, Kansas
Taking a drive through the—
Snow-covered streets giving
A totally new view of town
Just a leisurely tour with—
Some background music
What a magic carpet…
Am I the only one to—
Re-run the You Tube flick
Again and again and again?
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