• 1914 / departures
• last stop / cincinnati zoo

• martha
• died
• one
• september
• day
• last
• passenger
• last
• bird

• decades before there were
• clouds of birds
• tunnels of birds
• forests ablaze with birds

• then
• one

• then
• none

• swept by
• a silver scythe
• an empty swing
• a wild &
• twisted
• flight

• last
• passenger
• pigeon

• she
• slipped
• away
• forever
• into sky
• through
• iron bars
• into blue
• ghost wings
• wing bone
• tiny xylophone
• weightless
• kite

• .
• . . .
• . . . .
• . . . . .
• . . . . . .
• . . . . . . .
• . . . . . .
• . . . . .
• . . . .
• . . .
• .

• the repairman repair(*) repair(z) rider passenger hero (ze)ro lone bird

• the repair(z) (hero zero rider x)

• the rider flew
• through an
• open window into a
• blue pool of light
• s/he harbored at the nearest
• railroad station &
• took the night train
• hot summer 1914
• restless humidity /
• season of rain

• a bird could easily find
• passage
• it was just a matter of
• unfolding a map
• worn by dust & decades
• creased in a junkyard chevy
• tomb
• glass was thicker
• roads wound slower &
• iron had more
• weight
• mail made its way from
• town to town

• sun soaked the landscape
• rains fell against
• tin dark nights
• city lamps were
• dimmer &
• shadows
• were deeper
• a wild electricity
• slipped silver across
• naked wires
• static expectation
• the horizon bustled with
• gleaming factories

• forget the bullets
• shouting towards heaven
• & black clouds of wings
• raining death
• forget about orange fire
• ravaging hundreds of forest
• miles
• thank the ax for
• rows of houses
• saluting the day

• there is a blue window
• on this train
• one map one clock
• one lamp one bird
• a passenger rider repair(*) repair(z) hero (ze)ro
• lone bird
• clutching a worn brown
• suitcase with claw & wing
• can you hear the lonesome
• whistle? call of wind
• mouth harp & gentle beast
• friend of night
• coal whisky grain
• homeless ghost
• wandering shadow
• on this train to glory
• one car carries arms
• one car carries soldiers
• one car carries coal
• one car carries grain
• one car carries
• ... look away dear reader
• one car carries live stock
• brown frightened eyes
• look away once more
• out the window

• fix your eyes upon the tracks
• silver shining
• ribbons of moon
• the sun bends her rays
• around this
• rough cut orbit
• glancing off our moon
• (our only moon)
• to dimly stain the night
• even now the sun
• reaches us with
• her lamp her veils
• her tenderness glimmers
• before morning arrives
• to this map this dawn

• the mail train
• the london midland scottish
• railway
• or iowa nebraska chicago
• new york

• our train moves forward
• destinations west or south

• the black glass window
• flashes silver
• time /
• a map

• wings & beak
• fur, muscle, & hooves
• from icy cliffs &
• shifting tides
• losing you
• slipping grip
• from this blue globe
• this broken circle
• fins & bulk
• whale or reef
• grasslands gone
• forests torched & split

• falling
• a bird but fallen
• broken suitcase
• broken bottles
• reeds for lips
• night train hurtling
• forward

• cincinnati / ohio
• the blue zoo
• last stop
• last motel
• last call
• last station
• on the silver rail line
• texaco dreams
• this is the stop
• this is the time
• five till midnight
• lamps aglow
• the bell tolls
• the oily pools
• parched deserts
• silent oceans
• birdless skies
• & your red eyes
• brown
• suitcase
• torn shoes
• coughing bird
• whisky bird

• the rider woke

• not september
• not cincinnati
• not caged
• not iron bars or
• black black oily seas
• forests tall as canyons
• not september
• not that passenger
• alone
• in her cage
• singing to
• late night
• hollow echo concrete echo
• this iron horse rides
• past carnivals &
• bowling alleys
• texaco signs &
• bars
• industry!
• past sleepy towns & drive in
• pictures
• life aglow
• shiny metal coins
• & watches

• books of green stamps &
• toasters
• silverware &
• pretty red glasses
• green rimmed plates
• pretty circles
• pretty lines
• & diners
• the horse pulled in
• to rest
• & the rider found a table at a
• diner near the station
• near the five & dime
• near woolworth's pretty bell
• the door opened on bells
• a sandwich &
• steaming coffee
• a soda &
• piece of pie
• red red cherry
• pie
• & glass windows
• christmas lights & dolls
• not december
• but august afternoon

• lazy sun
• sweltering noon day
• sun & glass windows
• gathering heat
• glory heat
• asphalt heat
• & the rider
• at the center
• of the reflection
• in radiant heat
• the center of all
• light
• a mirror
• a pocket full of mirrors
• to hold the heat
• black heat
• mercury rising
• the rider rising
• blazing opal eyes
• cloaked in radiance
• soaked in
• radiance
• fire
• rushing down streets
• at dawn

• at midnight
• the rider gathers their
• blue coat
• & flies
• all aboard
• no sandwich hurry aboard
• swing up onto
• the platform
• iron chariot
• rolling fire
• wheels & fire
• not september
• not
• a soot lined window
• opening onto
• cincinnati streets
• august hot night
• bisected night
• maps, trains, rural routes
• dust & stones
• sky
• black lines
• night
• lamp's yellow

• halo &
• moth
• passenger (ze)ro hero lone bird
• rider awake
• steam & iron
• iron velocity
• iron night
• steam red fires
• black coal
• red hat
• red ticket
• torn
• sandwich
• pale paper
• pale stare
• pale conductor
• dreaming
• with sandwiches
• asleep in
• broken down
• streetlamps
• broken light
• cold nights
• sandwiches
• & dumpsters
• manifestos & blankets

• stolen maps
• brown paper bags
• & white receipts holding
• black rows of numbers
• blue patches of light
• loose change &
• crumpled bills or
• gleaming mountains of green
• golden houses built on
• acres of green
• rivers of black
• asphalt between
• a bird
• would fly far from here
• but the rider was
• a traveler
• a passenger
• a resident of this iron box
• this iron speed
• a passenger of forward
• motion
• forward eyes
• hurtling motion
• next station
• next silver dawn

• next sun twisting
• planet bending
• light
• or hOwl
• tight beaked
• glowing eyes
• relentless forward
• iron momentum
• a book
• on gravity
• a window
• down
• it was the rider's plan
• to pull it down
• & by downward falling
• to turn the motion
• backward
• to that day
• to introduce
• a window
• towards sky
• slate heavens
• & passage

• a 3rd possibility
• a forever
• august
• a large round
• still clock
• in ecstatic suspension
• arms flung wide
• across the golden
• sun
• shadow angels
• falling
• hYmns
• a table of sandwiches
• red drinks
• & steaming
• cups of
• coffee
• vending machines
• sky blue
• & nickels
• spilling across
• the floor
• the rider could see
• this 3rd possibility
• a vision or
• formula

• in chalk on
• slate
• or bound
• in leather
• books
• illuminated
• red & gold
• black black ink
• an angel
• falling backward
• bisecting time
• lancing wrong
• turns
• stitching extinctions
• back to fabrics
• replacing maps
• back towards before
• that day of
• shadow birds
• a pen lit
• drawing
• the train
• a memory of metal
• iron black
• lonely singer

• night & red & coal
• velocity & weight
• relentless hammer
• chest
• & weight
• eyes & pitch
• black ink & rain
• twisting tracks
• racing mass
• gleaming night
• lamp
• stealing past
• yellow silos
• grain & coal
• or lonely eyes
• gaunt rider
• wool fraying against
• he night
• the dirt dark floor
• the track & heat
• a glow
• an iron beast
• a roar
• here on this old
• platform

• left behind
• on splintered
• floor dark & lonely
• lampless floor
• on a platform a
• bird clutches a
• suitcase with broken
• clasp
• dusty lungs
• taste of far away
• dusty sky
• or the train
• unbound
• in its belly
• gaunt figure
• dark crow
• night blanket
• relentless motion
• black steed
• train of night
• train of iron
• train of fire
• the horse the grain
• the coal the fire
• the dawn

• unstoppable unmerciful
• unending velocity
• blue iron
• mass & holy speed
• night rider
• grain
• commerce
• palettes of steel
• lumber broken trees
• yellow pupils
• black cavern
• red flames
• thunder
• god of storms
• silver messenger
• god of fire
• welder of earth & sky
• electric sky
• the sky was falling
• in glassy shards of
• blue & steel
• soot & rain
• cold night
• winter of atoms
• wings turned to vapor

• hearts turned to stone
• desert eyes
• shadow humans
• chalky outlines
• burned into concrete
• formulas lining books
• inky extinctions
• the whimper of gone
• last breath
• downward curve
• a population dynamic
• & finally last bird
• last flight
• last wings
• last breath
• hYmnless night
• shadowless sun
• merciless trajectories
• heartless calculations
• empty cage
• rip tide & storm
• or ghostly hollow noon
• still noon
• arid noon
• white heat &

• absence
• a hole in the sky
• small planet
• small circle
• oily seas
• coal clouds
• last transmissions
• majestic refineries
• nevada plumes
• atomic silos
• jet streams
• metallic giants
• gleaming glass
• white lines
• asphalt tides
• but long before that
• the passenger alone
• & night train
• iron tracks
• armaments & cigarettes
• voyage of goods
• orange agents of fire
• transport commerce
• iron waves
• relentless tides

• rising
• body counts
• rapid heartbeat
• extinction's pulse
• trashcan symphonies
• vacancy
• empty lots
• or endless
• high rise
• concrete &
• broken glass
• twisted steel
• dynamite cyclones
• but long before that
• the rider &
• different maps
• different trains
• faraway night
• last stand
• texaco
• paths
• chance
• infinite between & time
• light harp in 4 walls
• light hYmns

• light color pitch
• sound
• depth or time
• plastic commerce
• & neon bibles
• litanies
• sacrifice & risk
• broken hYmns
• near sighted crow
• turn the clock
• bend the metal
• throw the switch
• slam the lever
• traversals
• migrations
• no line falling
• digits in flight
• letters numbers
• electrical wires
• radio waves
• wireless traffic
• electron rush
• epic flying movies
• traveling through air
• invisible waves

• people talking
• through air
• heavy clouds
• information super highways
• electron prophets
• but long before
• silicon chips
• the race of numbers
• the rider's chipped black beak
• tattered red shirt
• blackened boots
• & worn brown suitcase
• brown parcel
• traveling home
• another map
• creased & stained
• other trains
• other nights
• lonely crowds
• guards on duty
• sentinels
• barbed wire
• & prison gates
• but before elevator
• resurrections

• asphalt meadows
• atomic roulette
• & broken webs
• shattered webs
• before guns
• last retort
• the passenger riding
• riding home
• or last bird
• dreaming
• blue blue window
• floods & sirens
• night rider
• last dream
• & her
• _
• the moth
• captive of fire