The long, low moan

[PrinceMyshkin]

The long, low moan
of the midnight train
as it makes its way
across the bare chest of the land
is the yearning in the lot of us
for Mother, lover - Oh, lost....

[AuntShecky]

Yep. The bittersweet song of a train fills us with loneliness as well as wanderlust. Did you know that one of the very first blues songs, "St. Louis Blues" was composed after W.C. Handy heard a train whistle?

I liked your concluding phrase, the refrain from Look Homeward, Angel. (Ah! I think I get it!)

[PrinceMyshkin]

Yep. The bittersweet song of a train fills us with loneliness as well as wanderlust. Did you know that one of the very first blues songs, "St. Louis Blues" was composed after W.C. Handy heard a train whistle?

I liked your concluding phrase, the refrain from Look Homeward, Angel. (Ah! I think I get it!)

Damn! I was pretty sure that 2 word phrase had been used before. I wasn't intendending to echo Look Homeward, Angel and will have to hope that most readers here are a touch less well-read than you are.

[just mercedes]

Damn! Now my dog up and died and I lost my job...good blues, good poetic devices used too.

[Virgil]

Interseting. The closing "Oh, lost...." takes the poem to a higher level and frankly I'm not sure what it's saying. But I do like the "long, low moan" sound and the "bare chest of land" is a wonderful image. I can feel the yearning. :)

[AuntShecky]

Damn! I was pretty sure that 2 word phrase had been used before. I wasn't intendending to echo Look Homeward, Angel and will have to hope that most readers here are a touch less well-read than you are.

Oh, no, Prince -- in addition to being quite apropos in your verse, quoting is quite acceptable in postmodernism, but long before late 20th, early 21th century literature, jazz musicians and singers used phrases from already existing songs in their improvisation.

[PrinceMyshkin]

Oh, no, Prince -- in addition to being quite apropos in your verse, quoting is quite acceptable in postmodernism, but long before late 20th, early 21th century literature, jazz musicians and singers used phrases from already existing songs in their improvisation.

As you will see from a future poem of mine, Xanadu revisited (if I can ever find a way to rhyme that [blankety-blank unacceptable language] last line, I'm not averse to quoting provided a) that the quotation is so obvious it need not be cited or b) I footnote it.

Although I did not consciously remember that "Oh lost" occurred in the Wolfe novel - and so prominently - the phrase is so ordinary that I doubt I'd have bothered to credit it even if I had remembered where it was used before.


Damn! Now my dog up and died and I lost my job...good blues, good poetic devices used too.

Please don't despair. That midnight train
that left your dog behind
will be coming back some day
with another just as fine.


Interseting. The closing "Oh, lost...." takes the poem to a higher level and frankly I'm not sure what it's saying.

I wish I had the temerity to say, Oh but you do know. Apropos of the recent loss of your father or any one else you have lost, you know that the core of loss, the ache of it, is somehow inexpressible. So "Oh lost' is an intentionally lame utterance, a stammer, a thought that can't be spoken, can hardly even be thought...


But I do like the "long, low moan" sound and the "bare chest of land" is a wonderful image. I can feel the yearning. :)

[Pendragon]

Lived all my life somewhere near the tracks here in town. Heard that moan before, and sometimes wished I was tucked away in a boxcar on the way to who knows where... :)

[Virgil]

I wish I had the temerity to say, Oh but you do know. Apropos of the recent loss of your father or any one else you have lost, you know that the core of loss, the ache of it, is somehow inexpressible. So "Oh lost' is an intentionally lame utterance, a stammer, a thought that can't be spoken, can hardly even be thought...



Oh I see. Hmm, not sure if that comes across, but if others see it then perhaps it's just me.

[PrinceMyshkin]

Oh I see. Hmm, not sure if that comes across, but if others see it then perhaps it's just me.

That's the gamble I prefer to take in my goal to say the most truth in the fewest words... Not that I would claim this for my poetry, but when scientists speak of the "elegance" of this or that theory, they mean, I think, that it expresses a truth in the simplest way possible.

[ampoule]

and, of course, I am with Hank, with nights so long and robins weeping. I love how your poem transported me to a song I love so much. I have moaned this moan.

[PrinceMyshkin]

Lived all my life somewhere near the tracks here in town. Heard that moan before, and sometimes wished I was tucked away in a boxcar on the way to who knows where... :)

Melancholy nights, eh, Dude?


and, of course, I am with Hank, with nights so long and robins weeping. I love how your poem transported me to a song I love so much. I have moaned this moan.

If you mean, as I assume you do, Hank Williams, do yourself the favour of seeing if you can rent the DVD televised version of the play: Hank Williams: The Show He Never Gave, in which Sneezy Waters does a wonderful impersonation of Hank.

[Howard Wang]

I want to be in the train, taking me to a world where there is no pain.......

[MorpheusSandman]

Like usual, this is a small, organic, perfect gem of a poem. The images and feelings you're able to create in just a few lines is astonishing and enviable, Prince. This actually reminds me of a much longer post which is also about a train and, I think, loneliness; I was trying to remember the title and author but I'm failing... maybe Wordsworth?

[PrinceMyshkin]

I want to be in the train, taking me to a world where there is no pain.......

Thanks. Howard...

[Lynne50]

Prince,
Wow, this gave me goosebumps. To be so eloquent, to say so much in so little, is poetry at it's best.
I can just see that "bare chest of land" heaving with sobs. So much so that they were not able to finish their thought.

[PrinceMyshkin]

Like usual, this is a small, organic, perfect gem of a poem. The images and feelings you're able to create in just a few lines is astonishing and enviable, Prince. This actually reminds me of a much longer post which is also about a train and, I think, loneliness; I was trying to remember the title and author but I'm failing... maybe Wordsworth?

Neither can I identify the title or author you might be thinking of but then trains and/or loneliness are hardly infrequent subjects of poetry. I especially appreciate your reference to "organic" in connection with this poem.

[PrinceMyshkin]

Prince,
Wow, this gave me goosebumps. To be so eloquent, to say so much in so little, is poetry at it's best.
I can just see that "bare chest of land" heaving with sobs. So much so that they were not able to finish their thought.

You know, I never thought of the "bare chest" the way you saw it, but it does make sense. Thank you so much, Lynne.