Best Station Poems

Our oldest light goes by the name cosmic 
microwave background radiation—
CMB for short. She's everywhere: 
fluorescent birdsong of modern offices, 
hum of corner store ice cream cases. 
Have you heard of her? This gal was born 
screaming into freedom from the expansion 
of a bang...

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The smoke is a question mark...
My view of you is covered in gray
You pause, look back, then walk away
You’ve neglected to open your umbrella…

Tomorrow, under a different sky
I will listen to the songs of yesterday
The world leaves behind a sign language for broken hearts
It is...

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Above the firmament, crossing over the rainbow
Riding on those clouds, an endless trail of loving you
 I am a freed butterfly in frenzy from a red cocoon
I’ll taste your kisses, so sweet like flowers in bloom

When I hold your hand, you tightly hold mine
I knew...

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She 
rides the 
slow slide of 
her guitar blues
knife ‘gainst fretted strings of pain and pleasure

with hours to kill on train of love in vain
fields of fireflies 
find their groove -
songstress 
burns...

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It resembles the London Underground inside my messed up mind 
With a network of confusion 
And Tracks that twist and Wind 

Tunnels full of darkness 
stations now disused 
I don’t know where I’m coming from or where I’m going to 

terrorists detonate their bombs of...

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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...

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Pecking quick, a parting kiss
Pumping legs, a train to miss
Lovers waving, strangers pass
Tears and hugs a whistle blast 
Scanning papers on news stands
Pats on backs while shaking hands
Averted eyes and hurried walk
Can’t stop, won’t wait, no time to talk
Pushchairs, wheelchairs, screaming kids
Cardboard coffee cups with...

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On high-back benches
weary shoppers clutch their parcels
and slump.
Wrapped in a yellow green haze
Van Buren station sleeps
beneath Chicago's vibrant streets.

Outside, on wood-plank platform
we drink-in the coffee warmth
of October's fleeting sun.

"South Chicago, 23rd, 47th, 53rd, 57th"

Like some unraveling mass of I-beam steel
the tracks begin to rumble and...

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Rose fingered dawn appeared early today
at the island, East Brothers Light station.
From Benicia hills I caught the first ray.
Now, absorbing my share of sun's ration
on this islet in San Francisco bay.
I early watched the night, battle, and chased
by the minions of a bright new day.
On...

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[In Loving Memory of Jack Nowack]

Smoke billows up into the midnight air,
As flames now engulf a house down the street,
And neighbors wake up to fearfully stare.

A loud alarm calls strong men to their feet,
And they all dress up in protective clothes;
Which help to shield their...

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with each passing train 
the house trembles 
aborted dreams

strangers in the night
the creaking floorboards
she cheats on him

wafts of warm
spiced paratha bread
her aroma lingers

- - - - - - - - -
© paul callus...

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Pulled on the parka, and turned my face to the cold street.
Half running, half slipping, piece of toast hangin' from my mouth..
man oh man am I late...

Two and half blocks south down Jerome to the station..
gotta make the Kingsbridge nine o five. 
Thank the lord...

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The whistles screamed that cold dark night
                                      ...

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There's a spot on the horizon
In the ripple of the sun
Where railway lines and stanchions fuse
And merge, becoming one.

I was staring from the platform
When a distant dot appeared.
It grew in size and shape and form
And sounded as it neared.

I caught blurred faces turning
As they thundered...

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The earth is sleeping under the blanket of fog,
daylight gently awakens her from her stupor,
misty mountains melt in the magical morning,
as each step surprises us to what lays ahead,

The clouds float by, spreading their chillness in the air,
wispy breeze blows past sprinkling wintry cheer around,
atmospheric...

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