Timothy B. Dodd

Leaving

Is it with loneliness or excitement that I look out
into the night from my carriage window, waiting
for the train to leave the station, darkness punctured
by only a few lights, their dim glow juggling death
and eternity and Rembrandt. Rumbling through
the station, a coal train on another track, weighed down
by industry and its own burning, its wheels screeching
with underground screams. Two scraggly dogs hump
to the noise and a grey-haired depot worker plugs
his ears, logs departures in a tatty book. At my side
a pregnant woman stares at me like I did it. Do we head
for a new country? Or should I offer a plum to her
before we disappear?

About Timothy B. Dodd

Timothy B. Dodd is from Mink Shoals, WV. His writing has appeared in Yemassee, Main Street Rag, The William & Mary Review, and elsewhere. He is currently an MFA candidate at the University of Texas - El Paso.