Bump and Jar

“Indifference” by Jorge Cardenas

 

 

 

commuter runs sing out
their steely speed
clipping through
countryside stretches
that echo their stark
syncopated shrill hum

 

but these passenger trains
decelerate sharply
all the way down to
a bump and jar pace
when encroaching
old cities and towns
where they often
crawl carefully
mindful of vandals
and vandalized track
en route straight up
the backside of life

 

unkempt boarded-up precincts
sad shantytowns
nobody sleeps in by choice
hard places
where scavengers
pick apart carcasses
iron or bone
either way
stolen cars
broken dreams
they both have their markets
where pieces of what
were once noble and whole
are reduced to
illicit commodities

 

wheel rims and hearts
minds and stereo parts
engines and genitals
yanked from their hosts
lost forever
sold or indecently used
by pushers of
powders and pills
by predators
trading in souls
shredding dignity
like so much
valueless
vinyl upholstery

 

and the passengers
never quite seem
to take notice
eyes occupied
somewhere with
columns of newsprint
with briefcases
notebooks or
lidded in naps

 

yet once through and out
each bleak zone of despair
as the train regains speed
bump and jar
smoothed away
more than half
the well-barbered and
trendy coiffed heads
turn to look
out the windows
and watch the benign
untroubling scenery
leading them blithely
on to their own daily dreams