Illustration in a German children's book (After Friedrich Boer, “On the Platform,” 1933)

the train is a photograph,

the people mostly cartoon–

ein junges Maedchen mit Rucksack und Stock,

“soon she will be far away in the mountains.”

und ein kleiner Jungen

der noch immer

nicht alles Gepaeck beisammen hat

fumbling around for his missing belongings.

and meanwhile a real boy in the background

stands, looking down at the train

and the busy imaginary people.

alles ist in Ordnung.

everything as it should be.

ein anderer Jungen erkundigt sich

bei dem Aufsichtsbeamten

the official who is patient and obliging

and it is 1933.

in 1933 sprang Hitler in den Sattel.

they are selling books,

they are selling Wein.

hier ist eine dicke Dame

her cozy bulk

surrounded by birdcages, dogs,

trunks and baskets.

ein Professor blaettert hastig in einem Kursbuch

looking absent-minded as usual,

and everybody is friendly and chatty

and in a happy bustle, heading to the train.

why do they not suspect, these imaginary passengers

why do they not know

why have they no idea

where they are going?

Trip

old passenger train

of the 40s

sepia family going somewhere indefinite

watching the scenes flash by

stopping at the black and white

stations of the dream

conductor punching ticket

with a tired joke

small towns romantic in rain

someone pouring liquid silver

from a bucket into weeds

a kiss under the dim lamp of the station

wooden arches rattling

where are you going

Omaha

no, where did you go where did you go

hooing into the distance

cars filled with familiar strangers

loved ones you never met

the ends of the cars clank

articulated steel plates groan

where did you go,

Mother, Father, Betty and Bill

getting on with the Pullman trunk,

(did a bunch of Europeans get on then from 1982

full of champagne and good will)

where did you go, first-grade teacher in the dining car

behind a vase of roses

I cannot see her quite

Lakawanna Lackawanna say the wheels of your dream

when the lights are turned down

you listen to the wheels

all the towns you grew up in sliding by

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