Long Iron horse Poems

Wovoka in the Feverland

In the Dying-Grass Moon came another winter to claim the old and sick.
This was when the first messengers came
To the desolation known as Pine Ridge.
They came riding in at the end of...

Read More

Within the frame a sepia scene
a dusty porch   a rickety chair   
the fabric of your dusky face creased
with ceaseless sunbaked woes
your old pair of getaway feet gives 
a different walk of...

Read More

Ever Jumped A Train?

I have and it took me on a ride I'll never forget,
A journey like no other I have ever taken.
Traveling along those rails in open door box car,
Watched beauty of many states...

Read More

Two majestic lords of the African Savannah, 
Strike without cautions warning, or roar's announcement.
Nomads, prides outcasts, existing on the fringes edge of
Survival.
Instinct's primal predators, golden phantoms, shadows
Haunted silhouettes passing in the night, casting eerie images
Against...

Read More

Death's Messengers
by Rick Rucker


Death's messengers came for me today,
I eluded them, though, I crawled away.

Seeing just the smallest chance,
I sneaked into an ambulance.

I thought that it would surely fail,
That I'd soon be cold, and pale.

Noting...

Read More

I'm walking my floors
Like a rattle
Being creative
Starting, some drama
Looking at my image


Reading my literature
Reading my novel
Reading my rhymes
Look at my style 
Look at my talent
I'm exotic
Very professional


Look at the vine
Listen, to the melody
Drink some wine
Memorize
Protect...

Read More

Paul C. Burk

A Sestina you would Harley notice.

No mere mortal will ever ride a Hog 
that shines and gleams in all its chrome 
and paint. It’s a steed to search for one’s spirit, 
a quest...

Read More

He was born too late to be, 
What he knows he is in his soul, 
And though he’s quite accomplished, 
Sometimes he doesn’t feel quite whole. 
 
   He’s a lawman of sorts,...

Read More

The American Morning

We ride smoothly, deliberately, in this old cruising caravan,
Across the ancient American avenues and boulevards, 
Of the once living, and now, the finally dead, 
Of the once famous, and now, the finally forgotten;
Of...

Read More

I'm walking my floors
Like a rattle
Being creative
Starting, some drama
Look at my image
Read my literature
Read my novel
Read my rhymes

Look at my style 
Look at my talent
I'm exotic
Very professional

Look at the vine
Listen, to the melody
Drink some wine
Memorize
Protect...

Read More

Along the mountain pine valley did the Iron Horse roar,
A steam belching black demon, burning red hot coals
Within it's steel belly.
Speed's hell bound creation, driven by greed's insatiable hunger,
Faster, faster it moves at acceleration rush,...

Read More

Hear the lonesome whistle blow, it echoes across the vast
Continental divide, connecting the Pacific and Atlantic
Coastal shores, by the steel rails iron horse.
It raged in blazing thunder, leaving a storm cloud of white
Smoke in it's...

Read More

By day, Turtle is ornamental
he sits outside of a Chinese restaurant
by the side of an ornamental pond 
that has always been empty of fish.

The traffic creates a dusty coat on his
stone shell, yet his eyes...

Read More

In the stillness of slumber
In the wee morning hours
Far in the distance of night
A faint whistle can be heard...

Roar of eagerness shakes the night
As Kublai barks in happy delight
Scratching and clawing the back door
Dancing and...

Read More

Back in the days, when men bold,
spun golden legends;
of exploits in the wild west;
of punch-in and herd-in cows
and saloon brawls where they’d shoot
and scores of bullets roared.

Stories of the Iron Horse’s roar
and gunfighters and marshals,...

Read More

I dreamed I was a porter
carrying bags that weighed a ton.
Quickly answering in the Club Car
when anyone called, "Hey Son"!

I dreamed I was a conductor
punching tickets neat as you please.
Walking up and down the Passenger...

Read More

Been reminded of days gone by
      when the doors were opened wide,
The endless rails called loud his name,
     sent an iron horse to ride.
Geese were flying...

Read More

Slow Dancing the Past
            by Odin Roark

Shadows of yesterday frozen
Even as high noon’s blazing heat
Seems never to pass

Fixed sturdy upon Nature’s ties
Once shiny rails
Hard...

Read More

The movements of others to far away lands
Drifted into American folklore, within histories hands

Fur trappers they started many centuries ago
In a country to become as the years truly flowed

Centennial by centennial, amidst wars between they
Slowly...

Read More

Bedraggled and grimy they hike from the tracks,
Fleeing the urban centers to the south.
Unsteady gaits and sun worn skin glow.
A young couple with a thin mutt,
Ramble towards a local store.
The lively grin of the underfed...

Read More

Turtle is ancient, he speaks now and always
for the indigenous who have lost their voices.

By day, Turtle's form embellishes,
he sits outside of a Chinese restaurant
by the side of an ornamental pond.

The traffic creates a dusty...

Read More

Charley my wheel horse says that Jim is a yack, always jawing now.
They are both scrunchers, they nearly swallow their teeth on chow.
Jim is unsalted, but not lazy or slow, although he has trail dust...

Read More

There is a sickness in my heart
It began a long time ago
With three evil spirits that came out of the sea
From the land of the rising sun
Quietly floating on three great canoes.

The mother and her...

Read More

American Osmosis

Jamestown was the source of this
Movement that swept across the continent
At first the ships were left behind
And people used what they could find
A mule, an ox, a Percheron
Whatever they could sit upon
They loaded up...

Read More

His massive head was adorned with a wooly crown,
and his robes decorated with ermine of brown
What a majestic monarch roaming with regal grace.
He was mighty, but bearing a pusillanimous face.
The king ruled his domain and...

Read More