'Opposite the Direction We Are Traveling'
        —an Amtrak conductor, announcing the location of the cafe car

Do you think irony is lost on them? asked the wolverine. We'd
been stalled for twenty minutes on the westbound to Chicago,
the train they call The Wolverine. Lost? I said-irony's a
common trope. Exactly, said the wolverine, nodding toward
the poets that occupied our car, all on their way to the Palmer
House, for "Leap Year Lyricism: The Tunnels and Bridges of
Postmodern Poetry." We were stopped east of the Hammond
Canal, awaiting repairs to a cantilever that unusual marine
traffic had somehow caused to malfunction. Wouldn't it be
like how we overlook the things we see most often? said the
wolverine.You mean ironic? I teased. Exactly, he repeated. Then
returned to his pacing up and down the aisle.

Tweet

Copyright © 2020 Phillip Sterling All rights reserved
from Amateur Husbandry
Mayapple Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission