Poem of the Week #86

Roger Loves Rachel

His love was writ
in loopy scrawl
along the boxcar door

near the bottom;
a place a man
could reach without

much risk to life
or limb. And yet
the risk was there:

to graffiti a train,
property of Union Pacific.
Did he do it in the dead of night?

And was she near?
Had they only just made love
in train yard gravel?

Was she surprised
when he whipped out
his spray can in the afterglow

to let the world know
their little secret?
Or was she in the dark,

unaware the pairing
of her name with his
upon the train, unaware

she’d travel with him
everywhere indefinitely;
his love, for all the world to see.

Lisa Vihos