Two freight trains highball at opposite ends
of a long, winding track. They twist around
rusting water towers, dead blackened trees,
rise over steep grades & piles of lumber rotten
from exposure to summer rains.
Hurtle through tunnels so long, so dark
they seem to suck the very concept of light
& shadow from the universe. They are angry
lampreys or thick swarms of mosquitoes.
Each locomotive moves toward the other at high speed.
They show no signs of stopping. One engineer
has plucked out both his eyes from spite. Blood
& water stream down his cheeks. His left hand
is a dry husk, tightened like a skeletal claw
around the throttle. He has bitten his right hand off
at the wrist. The other locomotive’s engineer is drinking
heavily from a blue porcelain cup filled with gin.
He knows there is no stopping. He knows they are
going to crash. He reaches in his jacket pocket
& pulls out three gold coins of varying size.
He thinks of his children, of the supper
waiting for him at home. Breathes a hot, wet blast
of air onto the coins, polishes each one
until it glistens & shines bright as the sun.
He closes his eyes.
Slides the throttle forward to full power.
Gives a light cough of blood into his sleeve,
wipes a single bead of sweat from his brow.
He swallows each coin, gently,
first one, then the next,
then the last.
William James is a poet, punk rocker, and train enthusiast from Manchester, NH. He’s a contributing editor for Drunk In A Midnight Choir, a facilitator with the Slam Free Or Die writing workshop, and a frequent host at the weekly Slam Free Or Die reading in Manchester. Various works have appeared or are forthcoming in SOFTBLOW, the Emerson Review, Atticus Review, Word Riot, and Radius Lit. His debut full-length poetry collection “rebel hearts & restless ghosts” is forthcoming in 2015 from Timber Mouse Publishing.
–Art by Karamelo
–Art by Mariya Petrova-Existencia