Grand Trunk Railway- HO Scale

At the Battle Creek Station
a woman reads Betty Crocker
to her husband. Arms folded
legs crossed he stares like a saint
in a protestant pew.

Outside the dispatcher's office
a porter wears company jewels,
mans a two wheeler
loaded with Samsonite luggage.

A frustrated boy has hands
on his hips and calls to a dog.
It refuses to come.

Three men in gray suits
share a paper. One reads
the headline, Russian Eye
in the Sky. The others read sports,
wonder if Spahn will throw
spitballs at Mickey.

The sky is a basement ceiling
but a woman's hair blows out behind.
In fear that they might all miss
the train, no one is moving.

The Inter-City Limited
will arrive in five minutes.

About the Poem-
Grand Trunk Railway- HO Scale first appeared in the December 2013 issue of The Lake. It is a memory poem taking me back to my childhood and building an HO scale railroad with my father. I grew up in the late 1950's so the images in the poem come from that era.