Saturday, November 18, 2006

November As National Poetry Month

Prison Escape with References to Dances With Wolves

The assistant warden
is a HUGE Kevin Costner fan,
and the warden’s son
participates in the universal theater
of young men in concert
with Tonka trucks.

The warden wonders
where #801116 went,
and soon the news
of the jailbreak
has shot through
the little local population.

The warden’s wife, who thinks
she’s been done so much wrong,
looks out from her kitchen window
into the wide Indian woods,
and mutters to herself: “run
you little fucker, run,”


*


Who Wrecked this Train?

Back then, one of us
was a sleek, shiny train,
and another was a bright
blue smiling train,
unassailable as he tracked
his way around.

The sun reflected off
all of us trains;
it was bright back then,
when our lives were filled
with so much university
and beer.

Bright trains, never
tired trains, and trains
wearing big brown sunglasses,
we were all linked up
with big metal joints that clanged
when we rammed into one another.

No one could say when
certain trains wrecked,
and no one worried
about it much anyway --
we were trains; we were
made of steel.

Now we know:
no train wrecks itself;
there’s nothing a train
likes more than its track;
and as the train rolls
through the forest,
the trees ask
“oh, what have we done?”

But inside the clickety-est
“trouble trains” is always
a quiet, clear voice from
a bright-eyed conductor:
remain calm, remain
calm, remain calm.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wait till you read my story...it has a similar theme. Is it a common notion that warden's wives are done wrong/ unhappy?

Also, I at one point I thought I'd write a story in which the wife slowly becomes obessed with Kevin Costner and writes him all of these fan letters and then goes crazy and stalks him and ends up in jail- because, like, OMG the warden's wife is in jail!!! ...but then I nixed it.

Anonymous said...

If I may suggest an idea for a future poem...I just heard a story about a friend, who is an EMT, encountering a man who had half his brain removed but then not all of his skull was replaced... leading to what we call Deflated Basketball Head. (no dances with wolves for this poor guy, clearly.)

Anonymous said...

I miss the Thomas The Tank Engine Days...

Alan said...

Do you have a chapbook that you're
willing to swap? If so,
I'm Alan King, a writer living in the DC/MD/VA metropolitan area.
I have a chapbook Transfer that I would like to swap for one of
your chapbooks. Writing samples are available at
http://myspace.com/alanking81 and http://myspace.com/bustransfer.

If after reading the samples you are interested in trading, please
provide a mailing address for me to send a copy.

Thank you in advance. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Until then,
Alan
nyckencole@hotmail.com