No fellow-travellers - by
The stones face each other
in rows like booth-style
compartments in old trains.
trains
In Gordon Street - by
for I could board tonight
to any of those unearthly destinations
whatever train I chose
Early Morning Train to Inverness - by
from time to time snow sprinkles from the sky
/ the way flour sifts from a baker’s fist
/
/ grey steel pylons pose…
My Father, Dreaming - by
The train glides through a world of frozen white,
/ low mists swirl and smudge the mirror of the Clyde,
/ Helensburgh stretches…
The Great Journey - by
The old couple
/ board the train
/ and make for a table
/ with facing seats.
/ The woman says
/ you sit here
/ and see where we’re going
/ I’ll sit…
Follies - by
We round the Brunel coast, in a train
/ crowded with bags and elbows. Tunnels gape
/ through mountains. Someone coughs. Now at sea:
/ the…
This Life - by
Each life echoing, acting out these myths: / going into darkness, re-emerging, wounds / and griefs healed over.
/ …
Back - by
Everything seems ok.
/ Rabbis study in the Lublin yeshiva again
/ even if the Jewish Quarter
/ is still razed to the ground.
/ Trains leave just…
Trèanaichean - by
Soraidh slàn leis na trèanaichean orains a
/ ghiùlain sinn eadar Baile Ghobhainn ’s Partaig,
/ Sràid na Drochaid is Ceann a’ Chnuic ’s…
With My Mother, Missing the Train - by
She was always late. At the final minute
/ we’d run for the city train, which roared right past,
/ its line of faces…
3D - by
In the loco…
/ the machine-god,
/ cap and boilersuit,
/ holds the pistons’ mystery in his hand.
/
/ In the Pullman…
/ the First-Class god
/ mellows projects in conditioned air.
/
/ And…
The Tay Bridge Disaster - by
Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silv’ry Tay!
/ Alas! I am very sorry to say
/ That ninety lives have been taken away
/ On the…