32
What is the nature of true transformation?
THE RAILROAD MAN
When welding under a boxcar,
molten drops fell
into the sleeves of his leathers,
burning their way deeper
as they cauterized his flesh.
Maybe it was the day he told me
about the metal breaking free,
clinking on the shower floor
when he washed his arms.
Or maybe when his friend was crushed
under a huge metal door
from the side of a boxcar
that was just moved by a crane
and caught by the wind.
Or perhaps it was the derailment,
with unsteady train cars
kittywampus in the aftermath,
and the order he refused:
”Get under there and brace that one,”
as it teetered.
Or was it the time he told me
about the carman caught
between two boxcars
and how his boss cried
as he ladled the man’s brains
into a bag.
I don’t remember when,
but I decided to change the ending.
To rescue him.
I got a job
so he could end this gamble with death.
Men desperate to feed their families
work in places where
safety
is a tattered poster on the wall.