#1396 - on the shinkansen

 

1396 

on the shinkansen 

much whoosh and blur 

sometimes a tunnel

blink 

already elsewhere 

then one must consider the sameness of cities 

how soon they rise and fall 

how we come and go 

hazed horizon 

scribble ink 

fold in 

duck fields in their inch flash 

cars slow beside 

weary just sitting this quick 

and clouds still

world built to people 

there’s the stillness and the calm of the stop 

sign on the back of the seat says ‘don’t rush’

but civilisation is movement 

a long nosed lizard of a beast this 

mountain creeps up 

a road sweeps it away 

today’s rain too 

and the day dimmed with 

bamboo 

a grove height 

there are places you’ll see into the rain 

so fast it’s the future now