Gary Radice Poet Rhyme

Notes About The Poem

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Originally published: 7th August 2020

Image: gR

This poem was placed 1st in the "Railroads: A Historical Glance Back" contest sponsored by Bj Legros Kelley (Judged 15th November 2021) 

and placed 1st in the "Standard 1212" contest sponsored by Brian Strand (Judged 25th May 2023)

As featured in The Poetry Soup Anthology "PS: It's Poetry"

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The Signal Box

when industry
stood on this soil
with chimneys that 
spewed sweat and toil
the furnace fires 
relied on mines
through arteries 
of railway lines.

now looking back 
to charcoal skies
through rosy mists 
of childhood eyes
a line of trucks 
each filled with rocks
crawled slowly past 
a signal box.

the building formed 
a silhouette
that framed a scene 
I wont forget:
the dying of 
that worldly light
was captured there 
in black and white.

I'm standing now 
where true art stood:
in a 'reinvented'
neighbourhood
where sleepers sleep 
beneath the grass
where once those engines 
used to pass.

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Susan Ashley August 16, 2025 at 1:13 PM Dear Gary, I enjoyed your beautiful poem's nostalgia of the steam engine past. You bring the past to rhythmic rhyming life in the most delightful and poignant way. The trains of yesteryear seemed to breathe and heave with life and burden. Your poetic pen is always captivating! Congratulations for your success in Mark's contest. I'm honored to share the podium with you. Warmest wishes, my poet friend.. ~Susan Gary Radice August 17, 2025 at 1:09 AM Thank you Susan. I love the old steam trains. Yesterday we took a train to a local market. The new trains we have here are battery operated and although a smooth ride they have no personality whatsoever...and I'm personifying trains now :) I'm just happy we still have a few steam heritage lines in this country. Cheers - Gary

Terry Miller August 11, 2025 at 7:14 AM Excellent and very nostalgic Gary Gary Radice August 11, 2025 at 9:28 PM Thanks Terry. Appreciated. Nostalgia and memories tend to write my poems. Cheers - Gary

Ghairo Daniels August 10, 2025 at 9:23 PM Powerful write, Gary. I can feel underlying sadness for Time passed by. “true art & reinvented” gives much food for reflection of current times. Congrats on placement. Gary Radice August 11, 2025 at 9:34 PM Thank you Ghairo. I was born just as steam trains were being replaced in England but luckily we still have heritage lines.There's something about the steam, grit and grime of past times that rwill always emain forever romantic and beautiful in this poet's mind. Cheers - Gary

Mark Toney August 10, 2025 at 2:41 PM Gary, wonderful nostalgic write. When I was a kid my mom and I would ride the train once a year from Wisconsin to Georgia and back to visit her mom and siblings. An unforgettable experience for this young lad. Congratulations on your third-place finish on Mile 5 of my 2025 Poetry Marathon Contest. Keep your running shoes on, since Mile 6 has already started. You can find your overall standing in my Mile 5 blog post. Gary Radice August 11, 2025 at 9:46 PM I can imagine you being excited and awestruck by those train rides Mark. Thank you for the placement. Now I'm off to find another poem for your contest. I'm running out of poems that adhere to all the rules though..ie the length. Those poems I have left unentered to date from my one page at Poetry Soup are longer than permitted by the marathon's contest rules. Not to worry. I'll keep running until I no longer can.. :) Cheers - Gary

I Am Anaya March 15, 2023 at 1:43 PM A nostalgic gritty write on the UK’s iconic steam trains. I read somewhere—the Royal Windsor Steam Express chugs across the River Thames from London to Windsor. Wild landscapes & old—oldest railway tunnels in the world! The soundtrack adds a dramatic feel of a black & white John Ford movie, smashing, Gary! ~Anaya Gary Radice March 15, 2023 at 11:23 PM Thanks so much Anaya. There's nothing like the smell and hissing of steam from a steam train. Add in a whistle there somewhere and I'm completely transported in my writing. :) Cheers - Gary

John Watt June 4, 2022 at 2:34 PM Gary, I do love your train poems. With the steady cadence of a laden freight train you move the reader in a forward arc from past to future, from industrial factories to 'reinvented neighborhoods', from nostalgic childhood memories to present day reality. Some delights to my eyes and ears: "chimneys that spewed sweat and toil", "through rosy mists of childhood eyes", and "where sleepers sleep beneath the grass". Simply magnificent. You are one of my top poets, and this poem makes a sterling case for why that is. Warm regards ~ John Gary Radice June 5, 2022 at 1:49 AM Thanks John. Trains hold a particular fascination for me. It was August 1968 when the last UK steam train took its last journey..actually from Liverpool, my home town. The particular scene described above must date '65ish.. I just remember seeing it when going over a bridge somewhere in my parents' car. It's funny how images stay with us. Cheers - Gary

Brian Sambourne November 16, 2021 at 1:18 PM So well expressed, Gary. You've placed the railroad creatively in the historical context of a burgeoning industrial landscape. Congratulations! Brian Gary Radice November 16, 2021 at 1:47 PM Thank you Brian. There is something so beautiful and romantic for me about steam and industry. Cheers - Gary

Christuraj Alex November 16, 2021 at 5:37 AM Beautiful work. "where sleepers sleep beneath the grass" Congratulations! Gary Radice November 16, 2021 at 7:27 AM Hi Christuraj, thank you! The line you refer to actually wrote itself :) Cheers - Gary

Bj Legros Kelley November 16, 2021 at 2:42 AM Congratulations Gary on your top placing win in my poetry contest. If I could give real trophies, you would get a gold for this masterpiece. I am in awe of this poem and have enjoyed reading it to others who all helped me to judge my contest, and every one of them were wowed by this perfect poem. I am honored that you submitted it to my contest! Again, congratulations! Gary Radice November 16, 2021 at 7:26 AM BJ, I'm blown away by your words - thank you so much to you and your fellow judges. I was an honour to have entered your contest. Judging by the entries that were placed I feel poetry was the winner. Thanks again! Cheers - Gary

Sarah Alexandra Morris November 6, 2021 at 4:10 AM You have painted a picture with your words. A vivid, three dimensional picture. Even without the added sound I can hear and smell and see. Love this piece. Gary Radice November 6, 2021 at 4:23 AM Thanks Sarah. It ranks up there with my favourite poems that I've written. Cheers - Gary

Christopher Flaherty November 17, 2020 at 1:03 PM Love this Gary All hail to progress Gary Radice November 18, 2020 at 3:11 AM I'll take a look over the next couple of days Christopher. Cheers Christopher Flaherty November 17, 2020 at 2:31 PM Made me or inspired me to write my own poem on this subject called Oh Dystopia paradise 4 a carpark. Maybe check it out if you get a chance please Gary Cheers ta Christopher Flaherty November 17, 2020 at 2:20 PM Yeah really do love it Gary. It struck me straight away . 1st off i thought or it evoked Peeky Blinders style imagery But most of all sleeping beneath where engine's used to pass. Dirty but honest graft. I would have loved to have seen the liverpool shipyards and docks in full flow bustling and bursting with life in there hey day it reminded me of that Gary Radice November 17, 2020 at 1:20 PM Glad you like it Christopher. It's actually one of my own favourite writes - love railways old and new. Cheers - Gary.

Richard Lamoureux September 11, 2020 at 6:38 AM I can see why Brian chose this piece. Well done. Gary Radice September 11, 2020 at 11:16 AM Thank you Richard. I'm absolutely fascinated by trains and find them a great source for my poetry. :) Cheers - Gary

Geoffrey Brewer August 30, 2020 at 2:27 PM Wonderful nostalgic images, skilfully presented. Having been brought up in the railway town of Swindon in the last days of steam and the old rural slow lines, it brings back many memories. The old signal boxes made an iconic unforgettable image in my mind. Thanks for the reminder Gary Radice August 30, 2020 at 3:14 PM Thanks for the kind comments Geoffrey. It's funny how that particular steam engine scene of only several seconds has stayed with me for all these years...and how now, years later, it's become a poem. Cheers - Gary

Charles Messina August 12, 2020 at 1:32 PM I love this Gary. Great poetry my friend. Thanks for stopping by a while ago. I'll get my muse back and start writing again. Stay well.. Charlie Gary Radice August 12, 2020 at 2:16 PM Thank you Charlie. I find the theme of industry - and trains :) - a great source for poetry. I look forward to reading you again soon.

Brenda Chiri August 8, 2020 at 8:11 PM Congrats on your win!:) Gary Radice August 9, 2020 at 1:26 AM Thanking you Brenda! I'm currently reading the list of poems from Brian's competition and am very happy to have been placed. Cheers - Gary

Sigrid Ermine August 8, 2020 at 5:19 PM Succinct tribute to coal's close impact, and painful joyful departure. A flowing poem, - great work, Gary. Gary Radice August 9, 2020 at 1:28 AM Hello Sigrid! Thank you for stopping by, reading and leaving your lovely comments. I really appreciate it. Cheers - Gary