Rock Island Line
watchdog howling (all caved in
beyond the pale—tis my home
cold wind implacable driven
unaccounted sooth shawl of sorrow
unplanned unmapped swallow order
blunt trees mended like man
even our shadows belabored in light
commonplace rumble—shaken
alliterative portrait of a ploughman
struck down cattle thief
contraband—pig iron—intermediate
between two states & cargo untold
undetected huckster amended airs
an untapped inventory—catholic
in the tall grass—laughing—mask
chimerical goods for summer sink in
Copyright Credit: Richard Owens, “Rock Island Line” from Ballads. Copyright © 2012 by Richard Owens. Reprinted by permission of Habenicht Press.
Source: Ballads (Habenicht Press, 2012)