Sonnets for Lily Yukon - 5. The Great Northern

This is your final notice the stars announced Clear out!
it's astounding what a desolation of phone poles &
        clotheslines—the
shirts & trousers hanging there frozen—lurched into the wind's
        mouth but
it wasn't wind, it was the Great White Whale itself plunging
        like the

Great Northern Freight Train pitched into infinity, like a house
        that can't stop moving;
& it wasn't a house, it was an abyss inside my pocket with my
        cigarettes; or else it was a frozen waste the train moans a
        formidable zero while traversing; but listen, there's no
hopelessness much emptier than this here boxcar;

The engineer doesn't know much anymore,
for instance whether his home's still underwater or which station
        comes next:
Tungsten, Old Crow, Antarus—some star that's the clue from 500
        crosswords I never
remember one Sunday to the next, which between horizons is
        10,000
miles; it's true you said:
if you miss the train I'm on you will know that I am gone

Jack Hayes
© 1990-2010