Long Boxcar Poems

There is a new mythology emerging, 
Howling from the hind end of the pack, 
Scorching the composted leavings 
Of established orthodoxy as a pillar of flame 
Showing the way for true rock & rollers. 
It’s...

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Gateway town, Mississippi and Missouri river flooding confluence,
with its celebration of manifest destiny, its looming, iconic archway.
Stainless westward marker, its culture flowed southward for influence
within the lawn-jockey, pink flamingo neighborhoods of moral decay. 

T.S, Eliot,...

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NO PLACE LIKE HOME
 
   would you like to hear a story, that grandma once told
its about an old train, that grandpa once rode
 
   the story starts out when my...

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As innocence receives the mark of man
a war is waged in silent turpitude.
It seeps within the solace of the land
eradicating tides in solitude.
For any soul so deemed to be unfit
fell victim to eradication’s storm.
‘Twas his...

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In nineteen forty four on the third of September
Is a date in my mind that I'll always remember
It was the date of the last train to Auschwitz in Poland
From Westerbork transit camp in the Nederland.

The...

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A lad is stopped by roving cops, who shoot in disregard.

His face is black, he’s on his back, a breeze is breathing hard,

he bleeds and dies, his mama cries, the screaming sky is scarred,

the sheriff...

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Armadilly Billy the Sling Shot Kidster, was the Sheriff of our town.
When mangy rustlers went into action, he was wont to hunt them down.
‘The Buzzard’ and his surly gang of rustlers of epically, bad renown…
Had...

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I’ve walked a mile in the other man's shoes                          ...

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We ride the cattle rail  Not knowing exactly what lay ahead. For weeks there's 
been no heat,  No bathrooms and we've barely been fed.  We arrive at our 
destined location.  Sobibor...Sobibor...Sobibor,...

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“…know what son, this here trains 'bout to derail, I think I'll be gettin' off real soon. Ya feel this car rackin' from side to side? We're up on two wheels as this here box...

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Still being drank all throughout whatever heat of the day.

Like the boxcar Children Daniel Boon and Nancy Drew being read to the little ones,
Credences' Have You Ever Seen the Rain, and Fleetwood Mack's Songbird, along...

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Sleeping in the corner of a boxcar bound for Boulder 
Got a life I like to leave behind a love I'd like to keep.
With the River passing slowly through the desert night below me
The thunder...

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When I was a just a kid this happened to me
Living on a ranch in southern New Mexico, nest to a railroad
The Sun still had plenty of Jalepeno in it, was late September
Dad and I...

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On the eastern grade of the switcher yard, down at Medicine Hat 
There’s a tendency for cars to roll toward the Dunmore hill 
Back when I was switching trains there, one got loose on me
Sit...

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a bad mans dreams are a good mans fears...on a nightmare tale on a train of tears...
buy the ticket and take the ride through backwoods terror where bad birds fly
some murdered some mangled some on...

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A powerhouse of gregarious silliness
for our delight and entertainment
Chuck Barris weekly orchestrates
his national amateur talent show
comprised of bizarre exploits
none of your conventional class acts
unique offbeat eccentric spectacles 	 
for the questionable and less discerning palate...

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The truth is, I'm afraid of most everything.
From the beautiful forests cloaking hungry beasts. 
Every wave of the ocean din harbors a cold dorsal fin...
with my name engraved on it-
The mountains-and all the hidden fissures
every...

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That I came back to live 
in the region both 
my parents died into 
that I will die into 
if I have nothing else 
I have this and 
it's not morbid 
to think this way...

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Gypsy of the Railways

I march to a different drummer
My life it is my own
I'm an explorer of experience
That is how I'm known

I've seen snow in South Dakota
I've been on the Vegas strip
Had barbeque in Kansas
My...

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There once was a hobo that lived by the tracks
Never ate a full meal, just ate lots of snacks
He rode in a boxcar most everywhere he went
And traveled for free, didn’t spend a cent

He had...

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There once was a hobo that lived by the tracks
Never age a full meal, just ate lots of snacks
He rode in a boxcar most everywhere he went
And traveled for free, didn’t spent a cent

He had...

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I march to a different drummer
My life it is my own
I'm an explorer of experience
That is how I'm known

I've seen snow in South Dakota
I've been on the Vegas strip
Had barbeque in Kansas
My life has been...

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The Toonerville Express disturbs a still December morn’,
Like Gabriel himself, but with a whistle, not a horn.
It fades into the distance as my hopes go down the drain. 
I’m two miles from the station, but...

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It is nearing midday, and the town is alive.   
Overhead, there is a clear, electric blue sky,
Dotted with innocent puffy floating clouds.
Not unexpectedly, the winter is cooperating, 
And a middling meandering February day,...

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Your life when but a youngster
A hard and rocky road
At times a covered wagon
Was the place that you called home
But in years as you grew older
You met the man you loved
You married, bore his children
Together...

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