For years I’ve looked into
photo on my wall--
a look down train tracks
forever frozen
with absence of
whistle and steam.
Now I think I hear it.
No flashing signal
as I come upon crossing,
walk into framed scene.
Color sharper on this side
of glass.
In my pocket,
black and white photo
of world just departed.
Now I will not hunger
for a meal,
not sweat or chill,
will not have need
to rest my feet
as I walk down tracks,
search beyond
my former perspective.
Train, test of my faith,
will come, must come--
Why else have I come?
Not simply
to keep walking
until I disappear.
Somewhere To Go
There are times when the poet
needs an audience
even when there’s no one around
even when driving for miles along
a desolate interstate
knowing there is somewhere to go,
so the poet makes a spontaneous turn
onto a dirt road,
drives until grazing cows appear.
He pulls the car over, gets out-
air is still and hot, smells of
manure and dry grass.
He walks to fencepost, leans
against it, announces to the cows:
I have a new poem to share with you.
It doesn’t have a title yet, though. Several of the cows “moo”
as they have been doing
since the poet’s arrival
(and prior to his arrival).
He recites the poem slowly,
carefully enunciating each word.
A horsefly circles his head,
a cow here and there
flashes eyes in his direction.
A wild thistle
in the middle of things
has its defenses, its space.
When the poet has finished
he notices that all the cows
are lying down now,
facing in different directions.
Is there a connection here?
Was something understood?!
Getting back into his car,
the poet continues on a more
confident journey, steering
his own words
with somewhere to go
with inspiration to turn onto
another unmarked road
along the way.
John Rowe, an East Bay Area native, lives in Albany and does “9-5” sales/administrative work in Oakland for a licensed sound contractor (intercom systems specialist). He received his BA in English (Creative Writing) from San Diego State University in 1987. His poetry has appeared in: GRRRRR--A Collection of Poems About Bears (Arctos Press), Remembering (anthology of winning poems from the Poets’ Dinner contests), various journals--recently in Poetry Depth Quarterly and Brevities, and upcoming in Minotaur and the new East Bay Poetry Review. He won a grand prize in the Dancing Poetry Festival Contest 2002 and was also a prizewinner in the October 2003 festival. Since 1998, he has served as president of the Bay Area Poets Coalition and associate editor of Poetalk magazine.
