Images

for lonely looking buildings
the colorful framing
against the neutral walls
does a lot to suggest vitality
and even some sense of welcome
the mailbox and the blinds suggest
people spend time in this place
though I cannot call to mind
ever seeing activity here
or cars parked outside
I am humbled to find
how much happens
beyond the scope
of my awareness

I don’t know when I last saw a caboose
not only painted up properly
but also in service on a rail line
walking past this one with my camera
I thought of what it might be like
to work on this short line
a childhood dream
of working on the railroad
potentially fulfilled decades after
any real hopes were still entertained

how
I’d like to see
this plow in action
flying through the snow
what a sight it must be to see
one enormous snow angel
with its wings spread
sending the snow flying
and leaving its impression
a big kid playing in the snow

second hand engines
part of life on a short line
full scale kitbashing

on the one hand these spare parts
from other larger railroads

are old and used up
while on the other hand they
have life left in them

restore old engines to life
and keep this short line alive

textures in contrast
lines converging in the sky
worth more than a glance

who knew light could be
so beautiful, so alive
in these last moments

I wonder what it is
that draws me to this scene
it could very well be the light itself
and the stark shadows on a day like this
and yet it is the sheer mass of these structures
and the contrast of the utter blandness
of this paved road’s aesthetic
with the expansive connotations
of all the accumulations of histories
and movement these bridges represent
even if they host less movement in this era
than they did in the one which gave them rise
which brings me here and holds me under
enthralled by the influence of streams
conflowing, weaving across time
history, structure, aesthetic

clouds of censorship
in their resolute darkness
must take on the shape

of what they seek to suppress
while oblique light reveals it

harsh restraints lifted
a buoyant liberation
I know this feeling

industrial brutalism
made beautiful by age
and the warmth of the sun
framed by shadow and blue sky
there is beauty in all things