Sharon Tideswell Poet Rhyme

Train of Retrospection

Platform breezes,
spitting rain,
red brick station,
vintage train.
Take a seat,
relax with ease.
Conductor's voice,
'Your tickets please'

Time to leave,
the whistles cry,
release of brakes,
hydraulic sigh.
Boiler stoked,
the pressure's high,
clouds of steam
feed hazy sky.

Pace increases,
prospects vast,
golden sun,
then shadows cast.
Tunnel vision,
fortunes passed,
speed illusion,
double fast.

Transport systems
side by side,
railways clatter,
waters glide.
Broken buildings
all but hide
industries that
sadly died.

Sleeping coalmines,
unforged steel,
stillness grips
the potter's wheel.
Once fired kilns
no more anneal.
Unemployment
fears turn real.

Dereliction,
overgrown.
Shattered lifestyles,
hope unsown.
City's future
lies unknown.
Lives to whet
on worn out stone.

Climb aboard the yester-train
to days of work, then back again.



S.Tideswell 2nd May 2009

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Debbie Guzzi September 28, 2010 at 6:36 AM Really really loved this verse! I love trains and potters! Perhaps you'd like my verse The Train to Wimbleton, and The Potter...I do think the page layout is distracting from the write though..my favorite line is "Lives to whet on worn out stone." Light & Love

Andrea Dietrich July 23, 2010 at 11:38 PM wow, here is one I missed. LIke a shape poem, and you can go back wards or forwards on that trainwreck called progress. Very nice, Sharon! hey, talk about critiquing a person's poem. You should see the guy that gave me all kinds of criticism on my silly little devil poem tonight, making a big deal about my pointed tail that LIES under my dress, when it ought to be moving, and that my hair is not a camoflage if my horns are already covered in it. WHAT? Go see . It's so funny. LUv, Andrea

James Fraser June 27, 2010 at 12:52 PM Excellent piece Sharon, years ago I went to visit my family in England. To get there we passed the likes of Rotherham, Lincoln, Scunthorpe and you can see the disused sidings in many places where the industry was booming. Many of these sites have been re-structured with modern flats etc. As i wrote above, excellent piece >> James

Sharon Tideswell June 27, 2010 at 12:34 PM Thanks for the comments Carolyn. It was more a commentary on the loss of much of the country's industry. The train journey is just a means of surveying the dereliction left behind by the death of those industries that once served our cities ~ Sharon

Carolyn Devonshire June 27, 2010 at 8:40 AM Researchers have been working on what they call "clean coal" energy, Sharon. I love the way you describe the train ride and the message comes through powerfully at the end. We are seeing fewer railroads and trains these days and the impact on coal miners is very sad. Love those last two lines!!! Love, Carolyn