Let Those with Ears

The way I figure
things were too fast before:
now we notice the song of each and every—
Amtrak, Norfolk, CSX,
Southern serves the South
ones even without names
graffitied and empty
rattling as they pause, sending
their vertebrae shocks
up
the
line
at nightfall
or whistling out in the afternoon
one mile away as the crow flies
(we notice them too)
over the houses and trees
the backyards and living rooms
with children derailed
from schoolsoccerdancedrama
now at long last
in one place long enough
to listen to the world
around them