For your enjoyment: “Aubade at the Train Station” by Allison Joseph
Aubade at the Train Station
At 4 AM, these station lights grow bright,
the “City of New Orleans” late again,
delayed for some freight train derailed tonight.
You’re here to see me off, awake to send
me far away across the land, a trip
I planned without a notion of how hard
it would be to part, not to have your lips
waking me up tomorrow, no reward
from you to motivate me from my bed.
Around us sleepy passengers look grim,
arms sagging on their suitcases, their heads
as bent as wilted stalks, eyes dull, sight dim.
I look at you and hope the train remains
far from this town, still stuck out on the plains.
This poem was published as the first poem in Volume XVII of the Evansville Review. They always seem to be one of the best journals by percentage. More poems are really good than are decent, and only rarely will you find something that you don’t feel the need to finish after reading half of it. A rare feat. I salute you, Evansville Review poetry editor Corinna McClanahan. Tremendous poems you’ve picked.