Tuesday, July 9, 2013

View from the train



A child, face pressed, watches
blurs of greens and white and blue
flow in uncoordinated motion,
sees them for an instant and then
watches them disappear into vapors
left behind by the train, Small towns
rush by, only recognizable
by an individual sameness,
the hardware and feed store facing
the track, defiantly, but quickly
left behind. We hurtle along
steel lines to a destination growing
less clear and more realized.
The child laughs.

This poem is submitted to dVerse Poets for Open Link Night. To see other poems, please visit dVerse Poets.

Photograph taken on the Amtrak train from Kirkwood, Mo., to Hermann, Mo., June 15, 2013.

8 comments:

Brian Miller said...

ha. i will laugh with him...less clear and more realized...like that...and i would love to take a train trip again...

Laurie Kolp said...

So vivid, touching... love the ending.

Anonymous said...

This reminded me vividly of childhood journeys long ago. Lovely.

Martha Jane Orlando said...

Oh, the sweet memories I have of riding the train both as a child and young adult. This poem brought them rushing back to me as fast as the scenery is speeding by the child pressed against the window.
Blessings, Glynn!

Maureen said...

This is a poignant poem. Touching ending.

Anonymous said...

Well done. I love the smear of landscape when you're on a train sitting back from the window as if it is the world moving by.>KB

Steven Marty Grant said...

Glynn this is excellent! I might rethink "defiantly" as an adjective, it felt a bit off tone for the piece. Sorry that is just me messing with near perfection. It is a wonderful poem.

David Rupert said...

"Individual sameness" is an interesting twist