Jerry Ferraz

It's not my job to say what time
this train is 'sposed to run
it's not my place to blow the whistle
not even clang the bell
But if this train should jump the track
just see who catches hell
                   ... Epigram on the wall at the Muni Barn

SLOW TRAIN WRECK

In the soft and dreamy silence…
the knowing smiles on the faces
of the loco motives meet
head-on
in a comic collision
a cartoon catastrophe
in sloooow motion
all the sleepy-eyed floppy cars
stacking up like so many pancakes
as far as the eye can see
in both directions
and it just keeps on comin'
this infinite pile-up on Main street
where all the empty baggage of the world
falls out
like just another freaky
billboard premonition
Truth and Reason
asleep at the switch
These trains runnin
off the rails of a dream
Then hear that lonesome whistle blow
when there's no place left to go
f i n a l l y Wisdom arrives
with all its bells and whistles
and we realize
there ain't no engineer
there's only Love and Fear
Doubt and Affirmation
the old conundrum
put to us by fate
is you is
or is you ain't
my opposite?
O where in all the mortal wreckage
can we find the magic
throttle of Spring
that puts our dreams
back on track again
where did the time go
but in a little crazy circle
and where does the dream go
but in my coffee

© Jerry Ferraz, 2009

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