In light industrial units, sheet-metal roofs
ping under the rising heat of the sun.
Sounds of tin stretched into rhythm.
He tumbles out of a fuzzy dream
tramples over himself, sucks in
half-digested thoughts.
Morning on the edge
of a medium-sized mid-west city,
Mourning doves throttle a coo or two.
This late chiming morn,
he shares a first-rate breakfast tea
with the chug and chur
of a de-frosting fridge
wallows awhile in flabby abstractions.
Minor keys ding aluminum sidings,
gradually low-grade whispers
stutter into words, a kind of poem
he can almost hear.
Categories:
sidings, poetry,
Form: Free verse
Uardian to us
Don't point; those two fingers now'
Signed your deeds, away..'
A lurching west
Peace before the sidings
Axis U N-powered
Categories:
sidings, education, hello, november,
Form: Senryu
Dead End Street
He is waiting in the dark
In the smoky dark under the railway sidings.
He is nervous in the black
In the black of the black slag piles.
He lights a cigarette and breathes out
His breathing rapid and expectant.
The victim is on his way
On his way to redemption
Victim of stupidity and slur.
There will be no escape
Once bludgeoned and dragged
There is nowhere to go.
The noise of human life begins
Human life that calls time on the light
And the insolent one
Will die tonight.
Categories:
sidings, death, horror, judgement, motivation,
Form: Free verse
The train didn’t slow down
I couldn’t get off
On this station
The sidings were removed
Only weed felt at home
On this station
The building still stands
I don’t know the name
The name of this station
It must have been short
To fit the empty area on the wall
There must have been life and joy
People, and goods, coming and going
There are signs by the tracks
To let the driver know when to blow the horn
To wake those not yet dead
It seemed as a lament to me
When the horn remained silent
Passing this station
Categories:
sidings, appreciation, cry, how i
Form: Free verse
There's a darker side
to every house
where the sun
will never shine.
Flowers don't grow
and the snow,
sometimes,
lasts into spring.
Paint won't hold,
the sidings black
and there's moss
on every stone.
Just like the way
I feel,being all alone.
Categories:
sidings, analogy, how i feel,
Form: Free verse
other worlds are perfect
other houses are clean
mostly people are liars
we live like we mean
other floors are shining
other carpets are shampooed
mostly people are frontin'
we live like the best we can do
other sidings are pressure washed
other fences are mended
mostly people are selling wolf tickets
we live like the way our styles are blended
other doors are ajar
other welcome mats are muddy
mostly people are mannequins looking for acceptance in a wax museum
we live Divinely Healed By God....perfectly healing the wounds once bloody
Categories:
sidings, growing up, growth, moving
Form: Rhyme
This sickness haunts me
It eats at
my brain as I
attempt to compartmentalize
the virus before it
spreads
further
down
my
nervous
system.
There’s a pitter followed by the patter- all from the pit in my stomach.
As the haunting seeps into my bones and tightens the wires of my being.
Surrounded by compressed wooden sidings, miles from the closest soul surrounded by nothing more than souls…
The train howling outside the window slowly fades dragging my mind far into the
empty forests that this run down city is surrounded by.
Not even nature has the cure to these tightening strings.
Piece by piece the train scrapes at my skull
like an ice cream scoop digging into the bottom of the cookies and cream cardboard container-
Just trying to make one single scoop of sweetness that is so temporary it changes forms in an instant.
This sickness haunts me
not even writing can cure me
Categories:
sidings, psychological, solitude,
Form: Free verse
Train, sidings, chaos, meaning
Scared to look, reasoning, vision
Closed doors now opening, sighs
Confusion abounds, shouting
Bullets flying, pouting guards, snipped
Warred crimson spills
Previous defiance lies with no voice
Empty they, embraced with death
Elation, turmoil, as to where I am, confused
Being me, scared to step out, sunlight
Approached, a gentle calm
Breathing to hyper, in gasp, now lost where I am
My eyes wide in open stare, beware
Calmness abounds to an American sound
I'm free
.
Categories:
sidings, anger, angst, pain, war,
Form: Verse
AND IN THE END
Book me a ticket I’m going to Nirvana
On through the dark tunnel into the light
Key the journey in my route planner
On the freedom train and out of sight
Hello Buddha you were right all along
As Jesus said the answer is within
Ah my dear John you said it in your song
All I need is love let the journey begin
How many stops before we get to the truth
No sitting in sidings waiting for direction
No waiting for anyone to show me the proof
I’ll do it myself and seek my own redemption
I don’t need the man to give me any advice
Caught up in dogma and religious apartheid
The only one here who’ll be paying the price
Is little old me with my heart filled with pride
So come on you sinners get your ticket now
Look into your soul and feel all that love
Don’t be fooled by all that why or how
Not every answer to life comes from above
Categories:
sidings, inspirationalme, journey, me,
Form: Iambic Pentameter
Locomotives idle at their sidings
The world over
The big Case-Hellwig diesels
At low rpms
Or slow revv flashing what horsepower:
The iron-wheel'd gods
Bide their time...
Categories:
sidings, imagination, places,
Form: Free verse
Ghosts are everywhere we deign to gaze
On newspaper pages where halcyon days
Are smudged and disfigured by printing presses,
The names and the faces, the last known addresses.
From milk carton surfaces hauntingly stare
The fresh-faced and innocent, now who knows where?
On lampposts and sidings, buses and trains,
Images pasted, their only remains.
Pleading from parents on media shows,
Their anguish and worry, fear that grows,
Are they living or dead, untouched or defiled?
Comes the desperate demand: “Have you seen this child?”
Mythical lure of the streets paved with gold,
Clichés of terrible tales to be told;
Recycling paper plant rocks and rolls,
The last resting place for so many lost souls.
Categories:
sidings, loss, mystery, people, places,
Form: Verse