The new humane way to harness your dog

But howling I become an ever more un-

heard person.

                                 -- Heather McHugh

In the old book, a thousand-mile passage ticket for the Atchison,

Topeka, and Santa Fe railway. Little bone-line punches ignite the storms behind.  

Are you any nearer than you were in 1901, digging through

the soggy-bottomed boxes of what the linesmen dropped behind?

Maybe hints of grease buried themselves in the fabric and belts--

the old mutts seemed to tighten their notches then, tucking tails behind.

One-hundred ten years whistled by, and there you are, not on a farm at all,

but sniffing out the Gila River, leaving Globe behind.

(Daily Spam 11.17.11)