Green Linden Press

To Push a Train, Begin

with a crude implement—an iron shoe
on an ash handle. Close up, trains

dwarf us. One cold morning not long
after Detroit burned, some teens
emptied the first of the cars–milk

from the Ag Department–then climbed
steel ladders and released brakes.

Like them, you might believe
freight cars heavier than history,
than stop and frisk and the whole

twisted chain. As your friends start
to push, shove the jack under a wheel

and make a small bargain with gravity,
leaning on the handle, begging a grim
iron god for the slightest turn.

Michael Lauchlan has contributed to many publications, including New England Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, The North American Review, Sugar House Review, Louisville Review, Poet Lore, and Lake Effect. His most recent collection is Trumbull Ave., from Wayne State University Press.

ISSN 2472-338X
© 2023