So, You Catch a Train

for Shannon

When you’re 12 your truancy
is just not something
you can face up to.

After a couple of weeks
the officers catch on,
they’re off

to your parents’ house
and they’ve got enough
on your best friend

to get her to turn
state’s evidence. You
can’t possibly go home again,

you and your boyfriend both agree,
so, you catch a train
headed for Perry.

That’s where his favorite
cousin lives, she’ll
be so glad to see him.

***

You’re just 12, so you don’t know
how to make it easy on yourself.
You have to anticipate a train.

You have to be waiting in the bushes
with your sandwiches
before the train even comes along.

Otherwise, you have to chase it down
and then it’s all running and huffing
and puffing and “Here, baby,
grab my hand!”

Somehow, though, it all works out
perfectly and you find yourself
in a corner,

in the kind of infinite darkness
that only exists for a 12-year old
inside an empty boxcar.

“Baby, I’m telling you,
it’s all going to be ok. My
favorite cousin…” he says,
as the train keeps rumbling.

Turns out his favorite cousin
doesn’t really remember him
from the reunion,
so you spend one glorious night

sleeping on top of a haystack
at her neighbor’s farm.
“Oh my God, the stars!”

Of course, the next morning
is beautiful and then
there they all are.

–May 1, 2017