Man Ray – Keeps London Going 1938

Man Ray Keeps London Going

boxcar funeral parlor

the prairie became an extension of the city

thanks to the railroad

so finding solitude was easy,

in the yard steaming hot

through haze cyclops diesels

rumbled threatening inert freight,

a man nimble over tracks

knew passage between the lines

many years spent here

living on the perimeter,

where boxcars became brittle and fell apart,

it was here he served god

and those others displaced,

god was an argument for cheap whiskey

and sorry nights,

the others came to him

as in his throat he had words and lyrics

written in his own hand,

his boxcar a place for the dead

those whose limbs had ceased in all exhaustion,

he spoke sermon gave a sense of rapture

then would take each body out

to that solitude for burial,

wind caught and burned faces

heaven a casual component,

the sky a vault

and mountain halls echoing nature,

love had evaded him for so long,

passion cast upon the train

making right for those about,

even in slumber he did not crave

the early life that was chest deep in darkness,

fellow man and a swirl of small favors

cleansed his sanity,

he labored as a persistent mouse

to save the dead from further disgrace,

and hoped his dust would find

the same

 

padded diesel destination

legitimate was the legal nuance

given to his birth,

contested

shouted out

proven,

by twists of double helix,

it would be another day

to see the man

who out of ego made love

to most of the attractive women

he saw,

now there was a son

it could of been damaging,

he thought as walking through

station plaza,

he wanted it to be,

the mother

had mattered was a consequence

for all of seven months,

they had loved

with a deep assurance

that she considered to be a gesture

of forever,

he wanted to move on to the next,

now he wanted the boy and his mother,

they headed towards him

on the train

and waiting twenty minutes

was a pale shadow

of the twelve years,

he felt a sigh lengthen

and a brightness flare

smile i’ll remember forever

train skin

wore graffiti colors,

glass reflected eyes and faces,

buskers guitar

held long notes,

platform grey expanse

tactile under shoe,

bag under arm

pressed on board,

smell of air freshener

an attempt to find springs odor

yet came across as dull

and antiseptic,

coarse fabric seats

fabric mottled color

designer rooted in the 70’s,

each jolt of the carriage

added to the queasy feeling,

anticipation already riddled

body with tremors

cell phone ring

not the same but similar,

it would be ok,

station came closer,

on this station plaza

life would be reaffirmed,

as my father

seen for the first time

since my ride on the

carousel

 

 

Trees and Nature Say

your breath six lungs away

golden sunflower held close today,

rain leaves spiritual mark

close to tree i write on bark

 

on crack smoked trains

ice melted elongated veins

from forest to urban swing park

skin fragile age peels like bark

 

would jesus see citizens the same

as they shout shoot and maim,

but with words i can hark

back to moss strewn branches and bark

 

bitter subsides and no deride

from greasy window see outside

there awaits a sweet lark

and find salvation clutching bark

New Lyrics

dirt like grey flesh
on windows,
exterior daubed in
gang tags,
yet within
black non slip floor,
he sat with guitar
beyond singing
for a dollar,
he found a voice that
needed no currency,
a proportion of him
now belonged to
more than the city
he lived,
at carriage end
in his view,
with flick of
auburn hair,
eyes guided by
novelists words,
yet her heart only
heard the song.

for @dVerse