Freight: Passing Through
Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge, WV. Credit: USFWS, Wikicommons
July 25, 2022
I resonate over banks of the Ohio
cense with soot the river
straitjacketed
between walls built for restraint.
I cast my voice out over Neville Island
intertwine with suspect air.
In haste and power
I slice with authority
the boredom of the highway,
its hum a faucet left unchecked.
A presence inescapable,
I penetrate the tree-lined satisfaction of the Heights
implode with urgency,
an irritant
relief to all because I’m moving on
reverberating into memory
unfinished questions
yearned over fields of midnight decades past
my moan
seeking the sleepless in a distant farmhouse
haunting the protest chords of a guitar
birthing our ancient freight-car hymn,
a promise waved
by kids in meadows
who strain their fence poles
to turn their backs on home.
Dora J. Odarenko, a teacher and pastor, now lives in Pittsburgh. She holds degrees from Barnard, Columbia, and Yale; her teaching has ranged from Harlem, NY, to Sarah Lawrence. She has published in blogs and journals and is a member of several writing groups. Her poems are on-going conversations with her neighborhood, her memories, the natural world, and with those striving for earth preservation and justice.
