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Third Subway Car on a Night Train (3 poems)
by Julie Adamsway home, familiar
swaying, like buoys
heads in rolling breaths of movement,
3 a.m. waves we were
again, like the tide, wafting
over the bridge,
strangers swelling in unison
across the East River
***
brown crumpled bag
in one knotted hand
squeezed tight, like eyes
as lightening flashes
under heavy lids
of a man, worried
weary
***
out the window
two gulls snuggle
by the boat dock lights
awaiting some arrival
a salty nightcap of scraps
patient, listening
to the sea
02/10/2006 Author's Note: title/poem modeled after Okuma Nobuyuki's "Third-Class Car on a Night Train"...(Note: EDITED FIRST SECTION ON 4/28/07)
Posted on 02/10/2006
Copyright © 2024 Julie Adams
| Member Comments on this Poem |
| Posted by Lacy D Phillips on 02/10/06 at 07:47 PM Wonderful cadence here. |
| Posted by Ken Harnisch on 02/12/06 at 07:56 AM having ridden the M, the J, and the L...i have seen that weary man..contemplated those gulls....seen the lights on the inky blackness of the East River..and yes, even looked into the eyes of strangers, seeking poetry |
| Posted by S.J. Tyler on 07/24/06 at 07:06 PM Very dreamy and accurate I'd say, having taken that trip home into Brooklyn on countless nights. The idea of these three poems reminds me Thornton Wilder's play Pullman Car Hiawatha, which very similarly tracks the locations and histories of various passengers on a night train in relation to the universe. Such an interesting thing to decide to write about. |
| Posted by Michael Faraday on 05/01/09 at 02:31 AM I dig, nice stuff! m |
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