in the shrine of the pine
in murky backdune gloam
last call for this train
as it steams us home
we're going deep tonight
on lonesome railroad ride
find your seat, ticket please
let's don't miss the other side
listen to her rumble as
she croons to hobo's squall
earth mother locomotive
sharing herself with us all
Serdeczna Matko dear
so beloved it hurts to sing
I don't know much about you
perhaps we've met in passing?
load-bearing ferry-woman
carries her children safely home
Gaia, our goddess mama
will never leave us alone
many images of mother
mashed like praties for me
I'll have to go rogue
to get me any clarity
choo-choo train and deity
my Immaculata lady
can anyone find my mama
or a mama to love me?
I saw three ships come sailing
Father, son and Mother Mary
steaming down from Birmingham
with shoulder rides for little me
Mixing references like drinks
upon this night-night train
is the only way to make sense
of my mashed potato brain
too cold to take off my coat
clacking away at my rhyme
cold that gets in your soul
and doesn't warm with wine
feet like ice blocks carved
from lake Michigan whole
when they used ice tongs
which grampa found and stole
(from the abandoned Swett place in the dunes
long-forgotten. If they wanted 'em they should have taken them and they didn't so no harm done)
on highway made of steel
endless faceless porter men
no points, none keeping score
Will we ever see their kind again?
the railway's done and gone
but a few ghosts I sill see
of old men and their daughters
rolling out of Kankakee.
I'm the dad and daughter
my old man and the sea
Granddad and the porters on
the train they call Memory
For my da and granda and my husband and his da and his granda and my boys and girls. And me.
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