Hello poets, thanks for stopping by. I hope your July has been eventful as it flies by.
The past month has found me cycling nearly 500 miles along old railroad trails ( rails-to-trails ) where abandoned tracks are turned to recreational use. Railroads are intermingled with American history and any trek down one touches the past and the present. The Michelson trail in the Black Hills boomed along with the gold rush of 1874, and then faded just like the mines. The KATY trail in Missouri followed the footsteps of Lewis and Clark to open up the West for farmers and immigrants. Pullman, a city in Chicago became a failed utopia following a rail-road strike ( you can read about Pullman here or on wikipedia ). There’s a sort of purity to cycling and cycling leaves space for reflection. As I rode back from Pullman trying to decide if the founder was a humanitarian visionary or robber-baron the words of Arlo Guthrie’s song “City of New Orleans” came to mind
And the sons of Pullman porters
And the sons of engineers
Ride their father’s magic carpets made of steel
What a beautiful metaphor. Another train poem is by Robert Lewis Stevenson, and in this one his words help us feel the movement and speed of the train.
From A Railway Carriage
Faster than fairies, faster than witches,
Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches;
And charging along like troops in a battle
All through the meadows the horses and cattle:
All of the sights of the hill and the plain
Fly as thick as driving rain;
And ever again, in the wink of an eye,
Painted stations whistle by.
Here is a child who clambers and scrambles,
All by himself and gathering brambles;
Here is a tramp who stands and gazes;
And here is the green for stringing the daisies!
Here is a cart runaway in the road
Lumping along with man and load;
And here is a mill, and there is a river:
Each a glimpse and gone forever!
So, today’s prompt is to think back on your life or your ancestor’s lives and write about trains.
Write a poem and post it to your site/blog.
Enter a link to your poem and your name by clicking Mr Linky below.
You will find links to other poets. Read and comment on other poet’s work.
If you are promoting your work on social media, use the tag #dversepoets.
Thank you all. Have fun.
dVerse 
Hi everyone – thanks for stopping by. Today I’m you conductor.
Bravo for you amazing cycling feat, Bill, and for the prompt. Living as close as I do to a train, I find them often inspiring in many ways metaphoric.
When I was young Victoria I lived near the tracks. When at 18 I left, I often couldn’t sleep. When I returned home to visit I slept well. It was the trains at night I missed.
Hope all is well there for you.
Oh how I know that. when I go home now, I sleep so good hearing the sounds of the train passing.
exactly – the whistle and sound of the cars along the tracks soothes…
There is a soothing quality, isn’t there–except for the 2AM Thursday morning one. The engineer has something against sleeping people, I suppose.
maybe he has a sense of humor 🙂
I grew up with the tracks not too far away, and I could hear them in the night as I was falling asleep. I have been on a steam train, which was pretty cool. And as you will read, I hopped a train before as well. Thrilling, and a bit scary.
hopped one.. I never did that, but once we walked across the trestle bridge with only space between the ties, convinced if the train came we would drop down and hold on like superheroes. Thank God no train came.
Oh but that could have been so fun. Really the riding is quite thrilling. It is the getting off a moving train that is — a bit crazy. My buddy busted up his shoulder pretty good when he leapt off, cause he waited a bit too late.
that was the “adventure” I could never quite pull the trigger on… What a great story to share!
Dang, I had to do that in El Salvador when I went there in ’86 to nurse after a major earthquake. There was a little settlement down in a ravine that needed help–wound care and tetanus vaccinations. To be honest, just thinking of it makes my palms sweat.
oh man – you’re my hero !!!! What a great story to share!
we have an old steam train still running on sundays in our area… it’s very cool to ride it
I’m glad some of the old engines are still around. It ties us to the past.
Okay I missed the part about thinking back on your life or your ancestor’s lives…. I wrote about being homeless on a train with a “mail order bride” I just so happened to pick up. oy…
whatever comes to mind is good. To me, trains always meant there were other places to go to, to get away from the factories and small town.
Oh wow. What a fascinating story that must be! I can’t wait to read your poem.
I missed that part, too. Maybe that calls for another poem.
two poems from Anthony is twice the pleasure !
No time for a new one, but trains did play a major role in my life, as you can see from this old limerick:
Dear Long Island Rail Road, my debt
To your system, I’ll never forget.
Back in Seventy-Seven
Your train car was heaven:
‘Twas the place where my spouse and I met.
nice ! and back then people traveled widely on them as well.
When enveloped by bustle and strain
that encumbers the strength of the brain
listen to the wheels ‘or the track
as you sigh and lean back
riding the seven am morning train
Smiles.
Thanks all! Nice limerick, Bill!
my pleasure… love limericks.
Oh what a great prompt for inspiration Mr. Bill.. and Mr. X’s poetry associated with trains brings inspiration to me last night for the start of my train of stream of consciousness in poetic ways.. AS ALWAYS.. but tracks in rigid way almost kill me in the flesh and blood stuff of life.. so i rarely use sidewalks.. and never stay on track anymore.. more like a flower than a line of thought..
And also my train of photos is a little too much.. perhaps for most.. as wherever this KA cho cho is inspired to whistle.. the train follows in all directions.. as sure.. and with a little ‘one direction’.. added in for multi-media song of..
Steam engine flow continuing in ALL DIRECTIONS.. but anyway i guess one can consider this train of thought my effort here if they like.. and will include it as my 6th comment for my current train of thoughts blog post.. if one wills..
As this locomotive of words is not hard to find either on or offline all aboard the KMF train of words.. song.. and dance.. as wandering locomotive here and tHere as free range caboose follows close as rear..:)
Anyway.. i will not miss any poetry here or poetic expressions in response for sure.. the KMF train is coming and wherever that goes.. from this point on.. i only feel and care not to know.. at all on trackS of FEELING life..:)
yes, the railways are full of metaphors for our lives, aren’t they
Yes… i grow up on a river only about a stones throw of adult arm away.. from bridge or real train tracks then.. and this prompt means a whole lot of inspiration to me.. I have a video of a train somewhere stored in iPhone way.. that i might add before I train all my poetic expressions for a really big gain of train.. post.. sometime after this entire train experience runs its course.. around midnight tomorrow.. more.. for more fun for me.. in artful way of trains.. alive.. and fully expressing train poem tracks..:)
cool 🙂
Next stop all aboard my Honda Civic.. will be the dentist office for a little cleaning of my locomotive grill.. will be back later.. and am looking forward to this.. my friend in trains too.. choo choo.. one or two o’s.. i leave or add sometimes.. also known as see ya later… howling down the tracks.. of life free.. i ride.. i drift.. without tracks of life..:)
i love trains… and i live close to the tracks – i can hear them when it’s quiet
the night train from zürich to amsterstam rides by every night… it takes you within 10,5 hours from basel to amsterdam which is pretty cool…smiles
Yes – there’s something about gazing out the windows to see new places that always fascinates me
I do like this prompt! Your riding on the old trails is simply marvelous!!! What an adventure, what a way to touch a different America. My great grandfather’s father was a conductor on the train that went from Charlotte NC to DC (at the time). But he left to settle down with his bride and start a family. My father told tales of leaning out the windows of train as he was shipped from Virginia to somepleace in SC for army training. he said they would lean out the windows and young ladies would flirt, people would shake their hands or put packags of treats into them. The young men would play cards, joke, play music or do shuffle dances in time with the sound of the train. I’ve traveled a couple of times on special tours using restored steam engines with period décor and menus, which I loved and years ago, before the service was cut and other changes made, rode the Orient Express from Paris to Istanbul where we stayed a few days before travelling to Tokyo – by plane. A few miles away, a train travels its schedule and sometimes at night, if he sound is right, we can hear it. I love the sound. My husband has awakened me and said, listen – the train. And it was macgic.
what a beautiful romantic moment.
They have turned the old train line near here into a walking path, paved over the rails so only the tips show up through the asphalt – and you can even walk through the old tunnel through the mountain. Etched in the stone walls are the names of men that fought in the civil war, whose train was stopped for a bit there. It is pretty cool.
that sounds really cool.
Great prompt. Brought back a mix of memories.
great, I hope they come out in your poem.
I seem to be travelling more by planes than trains lately, but I find trains much more romantic. My parents’ house was close to the main railway station, so I could hear the toots of locomotives far into the night. It always reminded me of faraway places that I could escape to – that’s where my wanderlust must have started.
However, for a poem, I am not sure mine will be ‘trainy’ enough. It’s more to do with Anna Karenina.
trains, though never subtle, can be used subtly too 🙂
And I loved that poem by RL Stevenson – I learnt it by heart at school.
nice – the more one knows of RLS, the more I think he was just an excellent person
Hey everyone,
Hope you’re having a wonderful week so far 🙂 sharing a poem full of nostalgia.. back when I was a teenager and had boarded a train for the first time. We were travelling from Malaysia to Singapore back in 1998.. there was a teenage guy sitting right across me.. a complete stranger.. but I took a liking to him.. until the we got off the train and never saw him again. Just something that came to mind as inspiration for this poem 🙂
Hope you guys like it! 😀
Lots of love,
Sanaa
looking forward to it.
Thanks Bill 🙂
Hi Bill,
I read with interest on the Pullman history & marveled at the vision of the man ~ Anyway, I ride the train to work everyday and recently have started like a train journal, capturing my impressions of people I see along the way ~
Thanks for the interesting prompt and wishing you all Happy Tuesday ~ Just a reminder that this Thursday is our OpenLinkNight ~
Thanks Grace – you’re capturing unique moments in time that will never be exactly repeated.
Trains are a big part of my family history. I hope I get a chance to write about this today, Bill. Thanks for the cool prompt! Your bike adventure sounds super fun. Sigh! missing my wheels …
We’ll look forward to it 🙂
When I was a kid we used to go to the train museum and hear stories of the lion attacks at Tsavo. It was one of my favorite field trips because it always seemed so legendary and fascinating to me.
We had a transportation museum in town that had a train, and a large rocket that was like 40 feet tall. I remember several boys getting in so much trouble clombing up inside. Ha.
Ha. Boys and a rocket? Could there have been any other outcome?? 😉
Agreed – the perfect attraction for trouble
yes – that would be really exciting!
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great – looking forward to it. I love to hear anything about trains. Some of the stories are so rich with characters and shenanigans that they’re a delight to hear. I’ve really enjoyed touching on the history of some of these early rail-roads.
I love train journeys and watching people both on platforms and in the carriages…I’ll make my rounds after I come back from work…thanks for the interesting topic…
Once, I was traveling with my sister and a friend in Italy – and so we traveled like the Italians do by the overnight train. In our little compartment was three Italians with their bottled water, and salami they had brought for the ride.
We were friendly enough, with my sister fluent in Italian as translator – but as Italians – they wanted the window shut and it was horribly hot and stuffy, and as Americans we wanted the window cracked for fresh air. And so through that long train ride from Rome to Venice – when we went to sleep, the window shut, and when they dozed off – it opened all through the night…
Funny how different cultures can clash on such a little thing…
This is too much fun..
back now at midnight with
a short run for
tonight.. of KmF 509..;)
Longer run coming later.. after midnight tomorrow night.. smiles..
perhaps for Thursday open link.. if not Tsunami of much much
much longer Love.. in truest epic free verse poetry style..:)
I stay not far from a railway Station and love the sound of the engine
Really liked your poem – I was unable to leave a comment there, but wanted you to know.
In the US, the first pioneers basically walked the thousands of miles West to their new homes – imagine how fast the train must have seemed, impossibly fast.
I’ve arrived home to an inbox choc-a-bloc with “stuff” and maybe this prompt is history by now, but I couldn’t resist the lovely images and rhythm of the train poems – the RLS one reminded me of Auden’s The Night Mail, which is my grandson’s favourite poem.
I too love walking those disused railway track paths – there’s one quite near here – they are nice and level for my old legs!
We’re still open, just for you 🙂
for cycling too, old rail paths are great as they don’t have steep inclines. I’ll check out the poem.
This made me reminisce, and think of unfulfilled train rides…