View From A Train

Everything is inexorably beautiful
When a train leaves the station
The future in retrospect
Clouds of breath
Two men clear the track
Slowly smoke unfurls in the cold morning sun
Like desire
Water under bridges over dikes
Making chaos with the metalwork
Scales of ice drift under us
Eczema,Lilypads
Inuits know words to
All states of snow and ice
Is it enough that I know this
Not even what water we are over
Steel sky and bronze sun
Through darkened glass
Sunlight glides over snowdrifts
Humpback whales surfacing
Powerlines tie us all together
Without consent
and then of course there is the human shelter
what does it matter that they are bland
are they not burning inside
do they not map out their yards like post war europe
are their wells above ground
dry grass peaks over the fences
bullrushes in the snow mark the path
of sewage to the far ocean .
do they spread themselves across
the floor and look through the
ceiling with their third eye
are their tongues still wet in their mouths
or lubricated with white petrol
do neighbors braid their hair together
and swap DNA
does moss grow under the mattress
down the lane their children are building cities for
their shame
a car a car for you and you
look under concrete bridges for messages
cold trees glisten branches snapped
tear off the label and the world reveals itself
beat your wings against the current and you
will fly