The Rails of Concord

(12 June 1990) after Winifred Mary Letts

These are the rails where he refused to rise as the munitions train approached, exporting war, in the name of peace, and smashed the bones. In the unequal battle between men and animations, pawns of greed, machines with something to prove, is a game of bluff played with lives. I listen on the radio; they march against the gates. I stick in bitterness; they carry the spirit bearing signs. We are against the politics of force, macho hypocrisy, stupidity, pride. I might have carried a sign, but I wouldn’t have stood on the ties. Here are the rails where he lost his legs, the lines on which fear rides against hope.