Train on the rails
Moon buttonholes the sky
The sorrow, the sails
Your hand, my thigh.
Moon buttonholes the sky
Lines trail airplanes
Your hand, my thigh
Doors close again.
Lines trail airplanes
The lake, a ladle spoon
Doors close again
Morning. Afternoon.
The lake, a ladle spoon
Rooftops swap place
Morning, afternoon
Retrace your face.
Rooftops swap place
The sorrow, the sails
Retrace your face
Train on the rails.
Elise Paschen, a poet of Osage descent, is the author of The Nightlife (Red Hen, 2017), Bestiary (Red Hen, 2009), and Infidelities (Story Line, 1996), winner of the Nicholas Roerich Poetry Prize. She is editor of the New York Times best-selling anthology Poetry Speaks to Children (Sourcebooks, 2005) and Poetry Speaks Who I Am (Sourcebooks, 2010). After graduating from Harvard, she received her M.Phil. and D.Phil. degrees from University of Oxford. She was Executive Director of the Poetry Society of America and cofounder of Poetry in Motion. She teaches in the MFA Writing Program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
