"The Station" by Stephanos Papadopoulos

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend Support Poem-a-Day November 19, 2019   The Station   Stephanos Papadopoulos

The train axle still rests on the railway tracks its solid metal wheels lodged in the dirt, the dandelions and yellow weeds the color of a yellow sweatshirt, push through the gravel with the persistence of something not planted, unplanned. I am trailed by the detritus, the reminders in mute things, by the needle oak and the green benches at Weaver, and the railway car, now a bar, and the parking lot where once I stopped you, and here I sit in silence. Love gone, empties the world of brightness,  the trees are paper cut-outs propped on stands, the green fields of Pessoa are dead and brown, the flowery hue of a buttercup shirt, the squirrels, in quiet industry, remind me of your hands. I want to lie down in a field in North Carolina  and let the June bugs carry me,  let the stiff grass grow through me  let the weeds and dandelions feed from this sadness and grow tall again, uncut, like the ones that still live by this steel axle, the one left anchored in the red earth and creosote of Carrboro Station.            Copyright © 2019 by Stephanos Papadopoulos. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on November 19, 2019, by the Academy of American Poets. About this Poem   "I wrote this poem by the railroad tracks near Weaver Street Market in Carrboro, North Carolina where the original train station once stood. There is an abandoned steel axle from a train car still there which has not moved in over twenty years, and I hope it never does. The rest of the poem is fairly self-explanatory and sets the tone for the entire collection titled Carrboro Station." —Stephanos Papadopoulos   Stephanos Papadopoulos's most recent book is The Black Sea (Sheep Meadow Press 2012). The recipient of a Civitella Ranieri Fellowship and a Lannan Foundation Residency, he divides his time between Bend, Oregon and Athens, Greece. Poetry by Papadopoulos   The Black Sea (Sheep Meadow Press, 2012) "St. Pancras Station, August 1915" by Vera Brittain "Passing Through" by D. A. Powell "Saving Memory" by Mary Stewart Hammond November Guest Editor: Sherwin Bitsui   Thanks to Sherwin Bitsui, author of Dissolve (Copper Canyon Press, 2018), who curated Poem-a-Day for this month's weekdays. Read a Q&A with Bitsui about his curatorial approach this month and find out more about our guest editors for the year. A culture break, a source of daily renewal...   If reading Poem-a-Day has become a meaningful part of your day, please consider supporting this free series with a donation. Your gift makes publishing Poem-a-Day possible. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit poets.org   Unsubscribe here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038

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