Station

Notice Poems—A National Poetry Month poem series by author Holly Thompson relating to the verse novel Falling Into the Dragon’s Mouth, set in Kamakura, Japan. #NoticePoems

Station 


downhill from our house
is an old electric train line
that doesn’t travel far but runs
for a stretch alongside the sea

rickshaw drivers tried to block
the line’s construction, but lost,
so for over a hundred years
this train has connected our town

with the next town even though
it runs so slow and pauses so often
that it’s faster just to get on your
bike and ride to your destination

but everyone loves this line—
the locals and the trainspotters
who wait at key locations to snap
shots of the approaching train

curving around a rail bend,
framed with sea and sky behind,
paused at a double-track section
or creaking down the main street

our station is so short the trains
don’t fit the platform, and to disembark
you use the front or back rail cars—
it just depends on your direction


© Holly Thompson, All Rights Reserved




Have you noticed the world in your town? Share your own Notice Poems with the hashtag #NoticePoems 
Notice Poems—A National Poetry Month poem series by author Holly Thompson relating to the verse novel Falling Into the Dragon’s Mouth, set in Kamakura, Japan. 
Verse novels by Holly Thompson: Falling into theDragon’s Mouth The Language Inside Orchards

Crashing Wave image by www.johnnyautomatic.com