Running to Chicago

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  • Angst

    Running to Chicago

    October rain, the cold before the snow,

    Brings Ontario and Quebec running to Chicago

    On uncoupled trains of tractors and vans

    Spraying great clouds of misery, forbidding to pass,

    As they ferry their merchandise,

    Or deadhead to their goal.

    There, they open orificially, and empty 

    Where traffic never sees them,

    Or penetrated, impregnated in rented wombs

    By gassy little forklifts’ jolting heavy pallets.

     

    Clogging both lanes, trucks torture my progress

    Barricading my fender, raking my heart

    While sapping my spirit;

    For the highway is never built

    For a thinker’s passion, 

    Or a lover’s desire

    Or a dreamer’s quest.

    It is concrete or bitumen, after all

    Darwinian flat and and reality hard.

    Serving life, but without it’s telling essence.

     

    I know where I am; yet I look for a road

    A twin tracking trail with puddles to jump

    Where road trains won’t travel

    And loads don’t delay-

    A free footpath for lovers,

    A fair avenue for truth,

    And a far highway to the stars.

    For I’m not from elsewhere, in quest of Chicago

    I’m just trying to find my way home-

    Before I run out of breath.


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    Grito commented on Running to Chicago

    12-14-2009

    Industrial complex in interstate express, but with a while of way to go!!
    Reply to Comment

    HarverTomsson

    12/14/2009

    Thanks for your read. HT

    Teardrops commented on Running to Chicago

    12-12-2009

    truly a wonderful poem of the pitfalls of teavel thanks for the read
    Reply to Comment

    HarverTomsson

    12/13/2009

    I usually love to travel, but one particularly onerous day demanded my review of it. LOL HT

    ginga commented on Running to Chicago

    12-12-2009

    Harver, A poem of travels that does not leave out one detail of the ride. And those details my friend, are what I love , as well as the mood, tone and presentation of this cleverly crafted iconic write. I admire your "heart on your sleeve" confessions about the highway in stanza 2. ginga
    Reply to Comment

    HarverTomsson

    12/13/2009

    Peter Egan, moto-journalist for "cCcle World," warns against interstate highway travel as a vacation choice. He writes that the best roads are all byways. that is so much closer to where American lives. I tend to agree, though I use the interstate for its utilitarian value.

    poetryrules commented on Running to Chicago

    12-12-2009

    I love the last stanza, specifically the last two lines. The imagery in the rest is good but I do get lost a little at times. Is the migration down for a specific event? So I guess I don't understand the big picture and yet still enjoyed driving with you for a while. I'll get my dictionary out to understand some vocab..bitumen, orificially!
    Reply to Comment

    HarverTomsson

    12/12/2009

    And, not to be negligent, thanks for the read and coments.

    HarverTomsson

    12/12/2009

    If you lived in MI, the context would be self evident, the traffic is year-round from Cnanda to Chicago and back, October is the context for the cold, wet rain. Trucks from Canada clog the freeway on a routine basis, but more so in rainy weather. Most of their speed governors are set to about 63 miles per hour, and it can take one truck three or four minutes or more to pass one truck. If they jam up, you can get stuck behind a string of six or seven of them for 20 miles! this is the context of the poem.

    marxred commented on Running to Chicago

    12-12-2009

    this is great! right up there with sandburg and whitman...two of my favorites....thanks!
    Reply to Comment

    HarverTomsson

    12/13/2009

    Name dropping is amicable flattery, after all. thanks. HT

    A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness. It finds the thought and the thought finds the words.

    Robert Frost (1875-1963) American Poet.

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