Tall Tales

Appalachian feet touched the ties, waiting for the rumble of the train.
One, two three.
We played that game all summer
Where were our parents?
The lava relic rock wore smooth in my palm
as though I willed it to live with my sweat and imagination.
There was always as simple as that that I tried to breathe life into,
like the sad boy beside me, who didn't know he was sad
he had a drummer's spirit
like a child in a civil war
Go, he would say
But I would stare him down, and hold my bare foot on the track
till the vibration rattled my teeth and we at once saw the fear and the shame
the shame in the others' eyes at our fear and jumped all at once.
He and I were bonded
Neither one would tell, how we almost died
-almost come alive in each others' eyes