Siskiyou
‘It’s a shame, you know
A damn shame that America
Has gone so soft’
She walks alongside the rail
The sun hanging high and slathering
A heat upon those old train tracks
Stinging our feet as we walk
Stinging the air as she speaks of her America’s injustices
‘It’s only a matter of time until they all rise up
We should get rid of them before they get us first’
Cracked and splintered boards between
Two rails,
Two sides planted firmly in place
The roots of metal carrying the weight of a train on their backs
Too far apart, too invested in the sides they’re supporting
A pair of parallel lines that share crossings but never meet
I shift back and forth on a metal beam
A light-footed game of tipping points
She walks firmly on the other side
The ground dirtying her feet, off the rails,
Because she has a fear of balance
Taking a walk upon old train tracks
That weave firmly around the fields and plains,
Holding closely the county that we grew up in
Grew to love
And I, who grew out of
Small-town thoughts and radical intentions
And she, echoing the voices
That told us what to think
We’ve split the tracks, our feet
Avoiding the splinters of the years that have grown
And broken on these tracks
I, a balancing act, dipping my feet left and right
Trying to stay on top of a foundation planted so firmly below me
And her, my trekking companion, my friend of the past
An unrecognized tongue when she speaks, her thoughts
So twisted and affirmed by the ground she walks on
Old thoughts passed down in the towns
Emerging in fresh breaths, a new voice
The roots that grab at the tracks from the fields around
‘I say we kick them all out,
Send them back where they belong, they’re ruining our country’
But who laid the tracks?
A damn shame that America
Has gone so soft’
She walks alongside the rail
The sun hanging high and slathering
A heat upon those old train tracks
Stinging our feet as we walk
Stinging the air as she speaks of her America’s injustices
‘It’s only a matter of time until they all rise up
We should get rid of them before they get us first’
Cracked and splintered boards between
Two rails,
Two sides planted firmly in place
The roots of metal carrying the weight of a train on their backs
Too far apart, too invested in the sides they’re supporting
A pair of parallel lines that share crossings but never meet
I shift back and forth on a metal beam
A light-footed game of tipping points
She walks firmly on the other side
The ground dirtying her feet, off the rails,
Because she has a fear of balance
Taking a walk upon old train tracks
That weave firmly around the fields and plains,
Holding closely the county that we grew up in
Grew to love
And I, who grew out of
Small-town thoughts and radical intentions
And she, echoing the voices
That told us what to think
We’ve split the tracks, our feet
Avoiding the splinters of the years that have grown
And broken on these tracks
I, a balancing act, dipping my feet left and right
Trying to stay on top of a foundation planted so firmly below me
And her, my trekking companion, my friend of the past
An unrecognized tongue when she speaks, her thoughts
So twisted and affirmed by the ground she walks on
Old thoughts passed down in the towns
Emerging in fresh breaths, a new voice
The roots that grab at the tracks from the fields around
‘I say we kick them all out,
Send them back where they belong, they’re ruining our country’
But who laid the tracks?
Biography
Madison Williams is a currently a senior at Sonoma State. She is a Communications Major and Political Science minor. Aside from working in the residential halls and writing, she enjoys being outdoors and spending time with friends.
Madison Williams is a currently a senior at Sonoma State. She is a Communications Major and Political Science minor. Aside from working in the residential halls and writing, she enjoys being outdoors and spending time with friends.