On a train to London
he goes a-hunting
between coffee cups,
iphones, apps.
Outside, backwards, fly
- green fields – blue sky.
He’ll need a large pool of luck,
all his courage,
to look out - into
faces;
longing for eyes in the glass of a window,
hoping to catch a truth.
I like this poem. It speaks to me of the isolation we feel in the midst of the urban landscape, the longing we have in our souls regardless of our station. The poem as a whole takes me to many remembered journeys, though I have never been on a train to London. On that read, the train seems a figure for the passage of years.
ReplyDeleteThanks John!
I agree with what Bill said above. It speaks to the anonymity of modern life. We can get into the ignoring habit. And it does take some amount of courage to bust through that.
ReplyDeleteI love this poem. Thanks for sharing...
ReplyDeleteVia @Culturatist
I also agree with the isolation in the teems of humanity theme expressed previously...also love the subtle interplay between the stolen liquidity of emotional connectivity and that of glass...thanks for sharing...Edward
ReplyDeleteBeautiful play on words.
ReplyDeleteSo beautiful. Often when I'm sitting in a train or car, I wonder at the lives of people as I catch glimpses of them or their rooms through the windows. I wonder about what they are doing and how they're doing and what challenges they face.
ReplyDeleteI am also struck by the colors that pass him by so quickly and "backward." How bright them seem? How time has left them behind? The question is, were these "blue skys" and "green fields" ever his? Is their brightness, fleeting? Is his hope in the fleeting glimpses of the passing eyes that he searches?
I also love one of Prometheus and Antigone's children's remark about "the stolen liquidity of emotional connectivity and that of the glass." Brilliant.
Elaine Sangiolo
Book Marketing Manager: Cathedral of Dreams, A Kingdom's Possession
Booktrope Publishing
www.booktrope.com
www.booktropepublishing.com
@inkdipped
Excellent. I like your way with words.
ReplyDeleteSadly, George Bernard Shaw was a strong proponent of eugenics.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how to deal with that.
Ed
Its a sweet short poem. With awesome use of imagery.
ReplyDeleteCool!
Z
The poem didn't speak to me of social isolation or any of the fancy stuff above. Maybe I'm not intellectual enough and am I the only cynical one who construed that they were hunting for something other than truth?
ReplyDeleteIt was a cool poem though
Love it ... the truth alludes me at present
ReplyDelete