A Rural Station

A former place this, a patch where roots rattle,
where stubble has a ferrous frizzle.
A long truncated railroad stop
humming still within a surrogate reality.
As dry voices on the wind, they return
- the homesteaders and journeymen,
the harnessed horses.
Pants' cuffs carry kernels
long planted elsewhere.
Caps, coats, and carts
employed again by the magnetic
echos of an iron labor.
The brown weeds are talkative.
Brown boots seem to shuffle.
A hollow clock clacks,
its guts a nest for ticking birds.
Dandelions anticipate
a faraway flight,
A mid-day heat 
thrums fragmented rails.
The station seems almost ready
to receive
as if its world
had not disembarked forever.
Copyright © | Year Posted 2019

Poem

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Delaney Avatar
July 24, 2019 at 9:00 PM
Love your playful way with words. Your depiction of time as ticking birds is wonderful as is your closing line. Best, SuZ
Ashford Avatar
July 24, 2019 at 9:06 PM
Thanks Suz, I guess we got a fan club going:-) Seriously, poets know each other. Obliged!
Lamoureux Avatar
July 12, 2019 at 9:04 AM
I’m left feeling nostalgic and sad.
Ashford Avatar
July 12, 2019 at 3:01 PM
Yes, Richard, I wanted to write a nostalgic ghost story or rather a story of rural life in a past age. Thank you!
Ferdous Avatar
July 3, 2019 at 3:53 PM
Something was very peaceful about this poem. A subtle peace.
Ashford Avatar
July 3, 2019 at 8:52 PM
Thanks so much, Tamanna.
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