The Second Letter of Darby to the New Mexicans

For my money, getting on is the best part.

Her one fiery eye
slices through the night;
You can feel the fire in her belly,
her black diesel breath is crawling down your nostrils.
The dragon passes.
It’s black; you run alongside; heart kicking madly; you grab hold;
you leave the earth.

The rattle, boom, bang of the big wheel
pounding the rail
is like two lovers’ impassioned kiss,
repeated again and again with ardent fervor,
and forgotten.

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from eulogy for a freight train