Issue > Poetry
Benjamin Aleshire

Benjamin Aleshire

Benjamin Aleshire's work appears in The Times UK, Iowa Review, Boston Review, and an excerpt from his novel manuscript, Poet For Hire, is on LitHub. Nathaniel Rich selected the first chapter for the 2019 Words & Music Festival prize. Ben has received support from Bread Loaf Writers' Conferences, Vermont Arts Council, and the University of New Orleans. He serves as assistant poetry editor for Green Mountains Review.

Train Song

At Place de Clichy
     the old woman
on the metro
     is my mother.
I can tell it's her
     by the way
she smiles at me
     as I tap
the burly oblivious man
     gently on the shoulder
so a small girl
     can fold a seat down
& sit. But neither of us
     can speak—
As the train grinds
     to a halt at St Lazare
like all the world is rending
     I push through
the clouds of others
     & leave her her
darkened tunnel,
     climb back upstairs
     into the light.

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