I dreamt once that we were on a train
you told me to write about a train but I have never taken one anywhere significant 
besides London
and all I remember of that train is that the seats were red
and in the bathroom I pretended to be Alice in Wonderland

It takes nineteen hours and seventeen minutes 
to get from you to me or me to you on a train
actually the exact timing is probably different depending on the direction 
wouldn’t you say?

Have I ever told you that I stop on train tracks late at night?
brake right in the middle of them to look side to side
my mother is sure I’ll be killed
but there’s something about wooden rods leading all the way to California

I always wanted to walk along them 
but my father told me about a serial killer
who walked the tracks and killed a couple in our hometown
that would be just my luck as a worrier

What side of the tracks do you walk on?
if there’s no side closer to cars 
I suppose you would have to walk behind me 
serving lookout for the potential of transportation oriented trauma